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TENNYSON'S  IN  MEMORIAM:  ITS  PURPOSE 
AND  ITS  STRUCTURE.  A  Study.  Crown  8vo, 
gilt  top,  $1.25. 

THE  EPIC  OF  THE  INNER  LIFE.  Being  the 
Book  of  Job,  Translated  Anew.  With  Introductory 
Study,  Notes,  etc.     i6mo,  gilt  top,  J51.25. 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  COMPANY, 
Boston  and  New  York. 


THE  EPIC  OF  THE  INNER  LIFE 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOB 


TRANSLATED  ANEW,  AND  ACCOMPANIED    WITH 
NOTES  AND  AN  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 


BY 


JOHN   F.  GENUNG 


BOSTON   AND    NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   AND   COMPANY 

1891 


Copyright,  1891, 
By  JOHN   F.  GENUNG. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Co. 


To 

THE   MEMORY   OF 
MY  REVERED   INSTRUCTORS   IN   HEBREW  EXEGESIS 

TAYLER  LEWIS 

AND 

FRANZ  DELITZSCH 


PREFACE 

THE  kind  reception  accorded  to  an  article 
on  "  The  Interpretation  of  the  Book  of 
Job,"  published  in  the  "  Andover  Review  "  for 
November,  1888,  has  encouraged  the  author  to 
hope  that  a  revision  and  completion  of  the 
study  therein  outlined  may  not  be  unaccepta- 
ble to  the  reading  public.  In  the  carrying  out 
of  this  work,  thanks  are  due  first  of  all  to  the 
editors  and  publishers  of  that  Review,  not  only 
for  their  ready  permission  to  make  such  use 
of  that  article  as  may  seem  necessary,  but  also 
for  the  hearty  Godspeed  that  they  have  given 
to  the  undertaking.  And  now  that  the  study 
has  assumed  the  proportions  of  a  book,  some 
questions  naturally  arising  about  its  form  and 
the  general  treatment  here  adopted  require, 
perhaps,  the  answer  of  a  preface. 

Those  readers  to  whom  the  question-begging 
name  Epic,  displayed  on  the  title-page,  is  a 
stumbling-block  that  must  needs  be  removed 


VI  PREFACE 

before  they  can  with  complacency  read  further, 
are  referred  to  pages  20-26  for  a  definition  of 
the  modified  sense  in  which  I  have  ventured  to 
use  the  term. 

The  Book  of  Job,  full  as  it  is  of  religious 
edification,  is  also  a  poem,  a  work  of  literary 
art,  to  be  read  and  judged  as  we  would  read 
and  judge  any  poem,  with  the  same  favoring 
presuppositions,  the  same  candor  of  criticism. 
It  has  long  been  my  conviction  that  if  we 
should  make  for  it  no  demand  but  the  literary 
demand,  seeking  in  the  broad  diffused  light  of 
every  day  simply  that  unity  of  idea  and  treat- 
ment which  we  have  a  right  to  expect  in  every 
work  of  art,  the  book  would  prove  itself  not 
less  sacred,  rather  more ;  while  also  it  would 
gain  greatly  by  stepping  out  of  its  age-con- 
structed frame  of  abstruse  erudition  into  com- 
mon people's  homes  and  hearts.  Whether  by 
the  present  Translation,  Notes,  and  Introduc- 
tory Study  I  have  in  any  degree  succeeded  in 
verifying  this  conviction  must  be  left  to  my 
readers  to  judge. 

The  question  naturally  arises.  Why  make 
a   new  translation }   why   not    use    the   noble 


PREFACE  VU 

Revised  Version  ?  Well,  this  is  the  answer 
that  a  prolonged  study  of  the  book  has  made 
increasingly  evident :  The  Revised  Version, 
being  the  work  of  a  company  of  scholars,  rep- 
resents the  average  of  their  views  ;  it  is  the 
somewhat  colorless,  or  perhaps  we  may  say 
low-relief,  product  of  many  minds,  all  of  whom 
must  sink  to  some  extent  their  individual  pref- 
erences in  order  to  accommodate  themselves  to 
a  common  and  composite  result.  The  work 
as  it  Ues  before  us  is  the  verdict  of  a  majority 
vote.  But  the  original  was  presumably  the 
work  of  one  mind  ;  such  at  least  it  must  be 
presupposed  until  critical  study  compels  an- 
other judgment.  To  get  accurately  at  that 
one  mind's  idea,  as  a  whole  and  in  all  its  parts, 
it  seemed  to  me  necessary  to  pass  the  work 
anew  through  the  crucible  of  a  single  mind, 
whose  business  it  should  be  first  to  find  what 
the  book  supremely  stands  for,  and  then,  with- 
out having  to  trim  and  modify  in  obedience  to 
divergent  views,  to  estimate  candidly  and  cor- 
rectly every  shading  of  expression,  every  de- 
gree of  intensity,  every  transition,  every  con- 
nection, in  thelighfof  that  dominant  idea.     Of 


Viii  PREFACE 

course  this  necessitates  retranslation.  Trans- 
lation is  interpretation  ;  it  cannot  be  other- 
wise ;  it  must  take  more  or  less  the  color  of 
the  mind  that  draws  the  idea  out  of  the  ori- 
ginal. True  as  this  is  of  all  translation,  it  is 
especially  the  case  in  translation  from  the 
Hebrew,  in  which  language  the  provisions  for 
finer  shadings  of  thought  are  so  meagre,  one 
particle,  for  instance,  having  often  to  do  duty 
for  a  variety  of  relations.  The  Hebrew  lan- 
guage presents  its  thought  in  great  unsquared 
blocks,  sublime  and  simple ;  and  these  the 
translator  has  to  square  and  polish,  so  that 
they  will  joint  together  and  make  out  of  many 
one  structure.  The  only  way  to  do  this  effect- 
ually is  to  live  with  the  author's  mind,  in  self- 
effacing  submission  and  obedience,  until  the 
power  is  obtained  to  follow  all  his  sequences, 
anticipate  his  turnings  and  objections,  gradu- 
ally embody  all  his  thoughts  into  a  complex 
unity  wherein  every  part  shall  be  luminous 
with  the  spirit  of  the  whole.  This  I  have 
endeavored  to  do,  not  without  a  good  deal  of 
painstaking  labor.  And  the  present  transla- 
tion, whatever  other  merits  or  defects  it  may 


PREFACE  IX 

have,  will,  I  think,  be  found  at  least  homoge- 
neous, the  work  of  one  mind  interpreting  one 
idea. 

A  new  translation,  from  the  "  natural "  point 
of  view,  is  also  justified,  as  seems  to  me,  by 
the  fact  that  there  is  a  strong  tendency  in  a 
company  translation,  made  in  the  interests  of 
Church  and  Christianity,  to  make  every  clause 
at  all  hazards  a  source  of  spiritual  and  homilet- 
ical  edification.  The  custom  of  founding  ser- 
mons on  passages  of  Scripture,  which  latter 
for  this  purpose  are  torn  from  their  connec- 
tions, may  be  legitimate  for  religious  instruc- 
tion, but  its  operation  is  sadly  unfavorable  to 
the  reading  or  translation  of  a  book  of  Scrip- 
ture as  a  homogeneous  whole.  My  hope  is, 
that  the  present  attempt  to  translate  the  Book 
of  Job,  with  the  sermonizing  instinct  for  the 
time  being  effaced,  may  prove  not  unfruitful  in 
suggestion. 

Having  made  the  translation  with  care,  I 
have  then  proceeded  to  treat  it  as  if  it  were  an 
English  poem.  That  is  to  say,  the  notes  are 
not  devoted,  in  any  great  degree,  to  telling  the 
reader  just  how  this  and  that  passage  got  it- 


X  PREFACE 

self  done  into  English,  or  how  many  meanings 
Dillmann  and  Delitzsch  and  Ewald  and  Zock- 
ler  found  admissible,  or  how  much  suggestive- 
ness  there  is  in  a  certain  Hebrew  root  or 
idiom.  Perhaps  in  so  denying  myself  I  have 
missed  a  good  chance  to  display  learning  ;  but 
for  this  I  do  not  care,  being  more  concerned 
with  the  question  what  the  ordinary  reader 
wants  explained.  The  notes  are  accordingly 
designed  mainly  to  trace  the  sequences  and 
interdependencies  of  the  thought,  and  to  solve 
briefly  the  difficulties  inherent  in  the  work  of 
a  remote  age  and  land.  In  the  numerous 
cross-references,  too,  from  one  part  of  the 
book  to  the  other,  the  reader  may  see  how  pre- 
dominant the  endeavor  has  been  to  make  the 
book  interpret  itself.  The  author  of  a  book, 
after  all,  is  his  own  best  expositor. 

As  a  further  help  to  the  reader,  I  have  dis- 
carded the  old  division  of  the  poem  into  chap- 
ters and  verses,  which  often  makes  misleading 
interruptions  to  the  connection,  and  have 
adopted  a  division  into  sections,  according  to 
the  natural  articulation  of  the  thought,  retain- 
ing, however,  for  facility  in  comparison,  the  old 


PREFACE  XI 

notation  at  the  bottom  of  the  page.  To  this 
division  into  sections  with  their  subdivisions, 
a  parallel,  suggestive  alike  for  its  mechanical 
helpfulness  and  for  its  delicate  fitness  to  the 
nature  of  the  thought  so  articulated,  may  be 
seen  in  the  notation  of  Tennyson's  "  Maud," 
which  is  a  "monodrama  "  worked  out  by  a  con- 
nected series  of  lyrics ;  another,  less  closely 
indicated,  in  the  "In  Memoriam,"  which  also 
portrays  a  progressive  spiritual  history  by  the 
lyrical  method,  its  individual  sections  purport- 
ing to  be  •'  short  swallow-flights  of  song."  The 
value  of  these  suggestions  for  the  Book  of  Job 
is  obvious.  Its  method,  too,  is  strongly  lyrical ; 
and  by  choosing  the  same  manner  of  division 
and  subdivision  as  has  given  fitting  physiog- 
nomy to  the  above-named  poems,  I  set  off  the 
speakers'  changing  yet  progressive  moods  in 
such  wise  that  the  eye  as  well  as  the  mind  of 
the  reader  can  better  discriminate  them. 

So  much  for  what  seems  necessary  to  ex- 
plain. If  the  other  features  of  my  book  are 
not  self-justifying,  no  preface  can  justify  them. 

Amherst,  Massachusetts. 
Febniary,  1891. 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

I.  THE   INTRODUCTORY   STUDY 

Preliminary— The   Treatment  required  of  the 

Book  of  Job    .    » 3 

I.   Its  Central  and  Ruling  Idea       ...  8 

XL   Its  Literary  Class  — the  Epic  .        .        .        .20 

III.  Connection  and  Continuity  of  its  Parts  .        29 

IV.  Considerations  regarding  its  Origin  ,    .        .89 

II.  THE   POEM 

Persons '23 

The  Argument 125 

Translation  and  Notes ^3^ 


I 

THE  INTRODUCTORY   STUDY 


"  The  aim  in  expounding  a  great  poem  should  be,  not  to  discover 
an  endless  variety  of  meanings  often  contradictory,  but  -whatever 
it  has  of  great  and perenjtial  significance  ;  for  such  it  must  have, 
or  it  would  long  ago  have  ceased  to  be  living  and  operative,  would 
long  ago  have  taken  refuge  iti  the  Chartreuse  of  great  libraries, 
dumb  theiiceforth  to  all  mankind.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  this 
minute  exegesis  is  useless  or  unpraiseworthy,  but  only  that  it  should 
be  subsidiary  to  the  larger  wayP  —  Lowell,  Essay  on  Dante. 


STUDY   OF   THE   BOOK   OF   JOB 


w 


HEN   we  see  the  natural  style,"    says 
Pascal,  *'  we  are  quite  astonished  and 
delio;hted  ;    for  we   expected   to    see  H<nv  the 

^  '  ^  ,,        ^  Book  of  Job 

an  author,  and  we  find  a  man.       Stu-  '««^  ^e  j«- 

perficially 

dents  who  note  merely  the  superficial  interpreted. 
traits  of  the  Book  of  Job  —  its  regular  struc- 
ture, its  long  colloquies,  its  argumentative  tone 
—  may  easily  discern  therein  only  an  author, 
employing  an  elaborate  and  somewhat  artificial 
framework  to  group  together  for  discussion 
certain  hard  problems  concerning  man's  des- 
tiny and  God's  dealings  with  him  on  the  earth. 
Is  not  this,  as  matter  of  fact,  what  we  are  di- 
rected to  by  the  vast  volume  of  interpretation 
which  for  ages  has  been  lavished  on  the  book  ? 
Whatever  else  we  may  find  in  it,  we  are  taught 
to  regard  it  first  of  all  as  a  grand  monument  of 
reasoning,  as  a  world-debate  between  Job  and 
his  friends,  in  which  we  are  to  look  for  a  cate- 
gorical decision  telling  men  for  all  time  why 
the  righteous  suffer.  But  surely  its  perpetual 
outflashings  of  the  natural  style,  which  will  not 


4  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

brook  the  restraints  of  mere  dialectics,  nor  stay 
to  build  a  coldly  consistent  structure 

Hmv  the  ■' 

''natural      of  tliouo-ht,  shouM  bc  acceptcd  as  an 

style,''' even  ^  ^ 

at  first  test,    invitation  to  deeper   search.     These 

makes  '■ 

against s7ich    buminsf  words  are  much  more  than 

interpreta-  ^ 

tion.  ^  debate.      If  ever  a  book  revealed 

a  man,  if  ever  through  the  indignant  thrusts 
of  controversy  were  heard  the  beatings  of  a 
warm  human  heart,  it  is  in  this  story  of  the 
patriarch  of  Uz.  So  much,  whatever  prob- 
lems have  to  be  encountered  later,  is  evident 
even  to  a  hasty  perusal.  The  task  of  inter- 
pretation is  not  easy  ;  but  let  us  at  all  events 
follow  the  line  of  least  resistance.  Studied  as 
an  argument  cunningly  put  together  by  a 
skilled  reasoner,  the  Book  of  Job  is  beset  with 
difficulties  well-nigh  insurmountable.  Studied 
as  the  utterance  of  a  man  like  ourselves,  who 
speaks  out  in  the  natural  style  what  is  in  him, 
it  is  the  clear  and  unambiguous  voice  of  hu- 
manity, which  finds  echo  in  all  the  world. 

To  restore  this  book  to  its  natural  style,  to 
The  treat-  ^^^^  ^^  without  prcposscsslons  in  the 
TolleYfok  broad  light  that  falls  on  every  man, 
to-day,  seems  to  me  the  kind  of  treatment 

which  it  most  needs  to-day.  For  it  has  come 
as  contrasted  dowu  to  US  SO  thickly  Wrapped  in  a 
treatmcntwe  covcrlug  of  associations  erudite  and 

see  it  receiv-      .  .         .  ...  ,.      ,        ^ 

ing.  doo-matic  that  it  is  in  no  little  dansrer 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  5 

of  being  lost  to  the  one  class  for  whom  it  was 
intended.  "A  noble  book,  all  men's  book,"  is 
what  Carlyle  says  of  it ;  yet  to  the  plain  reader 
it  appears  rather  an  arsenal  of  texts  for  the 
theologian,  or  a  quarry  of  hard  words  for  the 
commentator,  or  a  dilapidated  relic  of  antiquity 
to  be  carved  and  refashioned  according  to  the 
notions  of  the  critic.  Right  and  necessary  as 
such  treatment  is,  perhaps,  in  its  place,  let  it 
once  get  the  upper  hand,  as  indeed  it  seems 
very  nearly  to  have  done,  and  the  book  is  de- 
graded into  one  of  those  "  things  in  books' 
clothing"  which  Charles  Lamb  accounted  no 
books  at  all,  being  doomed  thenceforth  to 
stand  by  the  side  of  other  learned  lumber  fill- 
ing up  scholars'  shelves,  and  preserving  the 
credit  of  their  libraries.  Such  a  fate  for  the 
Book  of  Job  were  melancholy  indeed.  For 
the  book  was  never  written  to  satisfy  itstmiversai 

.  _  ,  .  human  in^- 

an  esoteric  few.  It  came  glowing  terest. 
from  a  large  human  heart,  from  the  furnace  of 
universal  human  affliction ;  and  it  is  adapted 
to  reach  every  soul  that  has  thought  and  suf- 
fered. The  more  we  penetrate  beyond  the 
mere  skill  of  the  author  to  communion  in  spirit 
with  the  man,  the  more  will  this  universal 
character,  this  cry  from  the  heart  of  humanity, 
far  beyond  the  jargon  of  a  class  or  the  cunning 
performance  of  a  pen,  impress  itself  upon  us. 


6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

Time  and  space  are  annihilated,  and  the  unreal 
vagaries  of  speculation  seem  outlived,  as  this 
echo  of  our  own  deep  consciousness  comes 
floating  to  us  across  the  centuries.  Such  are 
the  characteristics  that  inhere  in  Pascal's  natu- 
ral style.  Such,  too,  are  the  marks  of  the  true 
world-poem,  of  the  poem  which,  though  neces- 
sarily speaking  in  the  dialect  of  a  nation  and 
.an  age,  is  the  exponent  of  "those  elementary 
feelings  which  subsist  permanently  in  the  race, 
and  which  are  independent  of  time." 

It  is  on  these  broad  human  lines,  recogniz- 
objectand  ^^S  ^^^  ^^^  bcueath  the  written 
"'pTefent'^"'  word,  that  we  will  try  now  to  study 
'^'''^^'  out  the  meaning  of  this  Book  of  Job. 

The  study  will  indeed  reveal  great  problems, 
whose  filaments  stretch  out  through  the  world 
of  theological  and  philosophical  inquiry ;  it 
will  not  fail  to  deepen  our  sense  of  the  marvel- 
ous literary  art  which  has  presided  alike  over 
word  and  plan  ;  but,  what  is  of  more  intimate 
concern  to  us,  it  will  disclose  to  our  gaze  in 
clearer  outlines  one  of  the  great  of  the  earth, 
a  man  of  fears  and  doubts  like  ourselves,  ris- 
ing up  against  his  doom,  which  is  humanity's 
doom,  and  conquering  his  way  to  hope  and 
peace.  Invention  or  fact,  the  man  Job  is  one 
of  the  guiding  figures  of  the  ages,  a  world's 
hero ;  whose  words,  the  record  of  a  great  con- 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  7 

flict  and  victory,   we  cannot  afford   to   leave 
cloistered  among  the  learned  few. 

Of  the  characteristics  of  the  book  which  ap- 
pear at  first  opening,  none  are  more  Two  types 
obvious  than  this,  that  its  structural  tsTructJre: 
outline  is  twofold.  On  the  one  hand,  """'""'"'" 
its  basis  is  simple  narrative.  It  tells  the  story 
of  a  man  eminently  good,  prosperous,  and 
happy,  who,  at  the  instance  of  Satan,  though 
himself  perceiving  therein  only  God's  venge- 
ful stroke,  is  suddenly  deprived  of  everything 
—  property,  children,  health,  the  world's 
esteem ;  who,  nevertheless,  though  accused 
and  deserted  by  relatives  and  friends,  sturdily 
refuses  to  own  that  his  affliction  is  due  to 
sin,  or  that  his  punishment  is  just ;  and  who, 
after  many  pains  of  doubt  and  conquests  of 
faith,  is  commended  by  Jehovah  and  restored 
to  twice  his  former  prosperity.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  main  body  of  the  work  a7id  argu- 
looks  like  pure  discussion  and  argu-  '"^"^' 
ment :  Job  and  his  friends  affirming  and  an- 
swering, reproving  and  recriminating,  in  three 
elaborate  cycles  of  discourse  ;  Elihu  coming  in, 
full  of  words,  after  the  friends  are  silenced ;  and 
Jehovah  pronouncing  the  final  answer  out  of 
the  whirlwind.  So  prominent  is  this  second 
type  of  structure  that  it  is  no  wonder  the  book 


8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

has  been  prevailingly  judged  by  it ;  yet  the 
ivhich  type  question  remains  fairly  open  which  of 
nates?  the  tvvo  should  be  regarded  as  giving 

supreme  law  to  the  work  ;  nor  is  the  question 
HmvaretJie  Icss    pressing,  how   the   combination 

two  inter- 

woven?  can  also  be  a  harmony  —  argument 
and  action  working  together  to  set  forth  out  of 
many  one  comprehensive,  dominant  idea. 

Important    questions  these,  with  the  satis- 
Sig7iifica»ce  factory   investigation    of    which    are 

of  these  i7i- 

quiries.  closcly  assoclatcd  all  the  lines  of  in- 
quiry that  this  study  will  open  :  the  various 
considerations  relating  to  the  thought,  the 
form,  the  connection  of  parts,  and  the  origin, 
of  the  book  before  us. 


First  of  all,  it  is  important  to  inquire  what 
7.  itscen-     in  this  book  is  most  central,  what  the 

tralandrul- 

ingidea.  Book  of  Job  suprcmcly  stands  for; 
or,  as  the  question  is  usually  propounded, 
what  is  its  problem  ? 

Any  answer  to  this  question,  I  suspect. 
Difficulty  of  which  reduces  the  teaching  of  the 
^t&lna^  book  to  an  abstract  proposition,  or 
fro/osittou.  £qj.j^  q£  words,  is  bound  to  be  unsatis- 
factory. The  book  is  too  much  like  life  for 
that.  In  real  life  and  experience  things  do  not 
shape  themselves  to  didactic  ends.      Good  and 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  g 

evil,  wisdom  and  error,  are  subtly  interwoven 
with  all  events,  but  the  pattern  is  not  system- 
atic ;  it  is  only  in  poetry  that  we  are  conducted 
unfailingly  to  poetic  justice.  To  force  on 
nature  a  didactic  purpose  is  the  mark  of  the 
inferior  artist.  The  Book  of  Job  evinces  the 
consummate  artistic  genius  that  created  it  by 
reading  Hke  a  transcript  from  life,  with  its 
struggles,  its  doubts,  its  eddying  inconsisten- 
cies. The  action  reaches  its  end,  not  by  the 
arrow-line  of  a  homiletic  plan,  but  through 
such  gropings  and  stumblings,  such  gradual 
discoveries  of  the  true  way,  as  must  content 
us  all  in  this  mystery-encompassed  existence. 
We  may  not  unfitly  apply  to  it  what  has  been 
said  of  Shakespeare's  plays  :  "  It  teaches 
many  lessons,  but  not  any  one  prom-  ^  ^ 
inent  above  another  ;  and  when  we  slVrfsutd- 
have  drawn  from  it  all  the  direct  in-  %'nbje?t^r^ 
struction  which  it  contains,  there  ''''°^- '■  P- ^^• 
remains  still  something  unresolved,  —  some- 
thing which  the  artist  gives,  and  which  the 
philosopher  cannot  give."  Every  one  who 
has  lived  close  to  the  beating  heart  of  the 
poem  must  feel  how  it  fades  and  shrinks  by 
being  turned  into  a  mere  moral  tale.  Like 
Mont  Blanc,  it  radiates  awe  into  many  an  en- 
raptured beholder,  as  it  rises  glorious  in  the 
warm  flooding  sunshine  that  cheers  the  com- 


10  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

mon  world  ;  but  interpose  the  cloud  of  didac- 
ticism, and  the  next  moment  it  stands  a 
blanched,  shivering,  forbidding  expanse  of 
snows  and  chasms. 

Nor  are  the  grounds  of  this  feeling  wholly 
aesthetic.  As  a  plain  matter  of  interpretation, 
too,  we  find  that  any  form  of  words,  however 
felicitous,  in  which  men  attempt  to  imprison 
the  poem's  teaching  and  purpose  fails  to  satisfy 
its  whole  idea ;  some  of  its  choicest  portions 
are  sure  to  remain  outside,  ravelled  and  loose. 
It  is  chiefly  for  this  unconfessed  reason,  I 
think,  that  modern  critics  have  felt  compelled 
How  such  to  manipulate  the  poem  to  suit  their 
ttsfnclui.  own  ideas,  —  cutting  out  passages 
cism.  here,  and  making  conjectural  emenda- 

tions there ;  assigning  one  section  to  the  original 
author,  who  began  well,  and  another  to  that 
bite  noir  of  criticism,  the  later  editor  or  tran- 
scriber, who  bunglingly  tried  to  steer  the 
poem's  thought  into  a  new  channel.  Taking 
for  granted  that  every  part  must  at  all  events 
square  with  some  supreme  didactic  idea,  their 
suspicion  naturally  falls  on  whatever  does  not. 
They  have  confessedly  no  other  ground  to 
work  upon  that  is  decisive ;  apart  from  this 
the  poem  looks  like  a  unity,  nor  is  there  sign 
of  a  record  to  prove  later  changes.  And  when 
the  critics,  having  once  given  free  rein  to  the 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  II 

refashioning  spirit,  have  cut  and  carved  to  their 
hearts'  content,  there  is  nothing  left  but  a  torso. 
To  see  how  this  works,  let  us  examine  the 
prevailing  idea  of  the  design,  or  prob-  ju^^t^^ud 
lem,  of  the  Book  of  Job,  and  follow  it  ^;Zlmng 
a  little  into  its  logical  consequences.   '''^^''• 
According    to    Professor  Conant's    view,  the 
subject  of  the  book  is  ''The  mystery  cona7ifs 
of  God's  providential  government  of  'o/MXlh 
men  ;  "  or,  to  put  it  more  specifically  T/o^and 
in  Professor  Delitzsch's  words,  which  '-^^^'^•^«- 
come  essentially  to  the  same  thing :  *'  Warum 
ersrehen  iiber  den  Gerechten  Leiden 
auf  Leiden  .''  —  das  ist  die  Frage,  deren   Comvientar 

J"  Jiber  das 

Beantwortuno:  sich  das  Buch  lob  zur  sjcch  lob, 

^  2ded.,p.3. 

Aufgabe  macht."  ^  Now  it  is  beyond 
doubt  that  this  question,  or  some  aspect  of  it, 
plays  a  large  part  in  determining  the  course, 
or  action,  of  the  poem  ;  Job's  friends,  for  ex- 
ample, din  it  into  his  ears  until  he  is  fain  to 
cry  out,  "  I  have  heard  many  things  like  these." 
But  does  it  play  the  leading  part  t  that  is,  is 
this  the  most  central  and  inclusive  subject,  to 
which  all  else  is  secondary,  or  is  this  itself  a 
tnotif  in  the  exposition  of  a  deeper  idea } 

Let  us  see  what  results   from  making  this 
didactic  idea  supreme. 

1  "  Why  does  suffering  on  suffering  befall  the  righteous  ?  — 
that  is  the  question  to  the  answering  of  which  the  Book  of 
Job  devotes  itself." 


12  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

In  the  first  place,  this  view  subordinates  the 
divine  and  presumably  directive  element  of  the 
How  this  book  to  the  human  ;  making  the  book 
"diZilftZ'  centre  in  a  question  raised  and  dis- 
tZnufihe  cussed  by  human  disputants,  and  re- 
humati  garding  the  Lord  as  appearing,  in 
the  theophany  at  the  end,  mainly  in  order 
to  settle  the  point  in  dispute.  At  the  same 
time,  the  question  propounded  by  Satan  at  the 
beginning,  *'  Doth  Job  fear  God  for  nought  ?  " 
and  in  fact  the  whole  foundation  laid  in  the 
Prologue,  is  ignored  from  the  point  where 
the  discussion  begins.  Thus  it  cannot  be  said 
that  the  introduction  really  introduces.  This 
and  weak-  ^^^^  opcratcs  to  glvc  a  decided  centrif- 
ZrJofth^'  ugal  tendency  to  the  Prologue  ;  nor, 
Prologue.  in(^eed^  a^-e  there  wanting  those  who 
would  discard  the  Prologue  as  not  belonging 
to  the  original  design  of  the  book.  It  does,  in 
fact,  seem  to  be  a  kind  of  intrusion,  with  its 
glimpse  into  heaven  and  the  divine  counsels, 
if,  after  all,  the  speculations  of  a  company  of  be- 
wildered mortals  so  completely  overshadow  it. 

A  second  and  more  fundamental  result  is, 

that  this  view  commits  the  Book  of 

vi7w  makes    Job  almost  wholly  to  the  argument- 

the  book  a  .  . 

debate;  see     ativc  typc   of   structurc   abovc  men- 

above ',  p-  7  .  .  .   .  .         , 

tioned  ;    makmg   it  the   record  of   a 
kind  of  debating  club,  wherein  the  question 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  1 3 

is  discussed  at  great  length,  for  and  against, 
and  is  finally  decided  by  the  Lord  from  the 
whirlwind.  Thus,  with  the  narrative  element 
practically  ignored,  the  reader  is  left  ^„^  ^^,,,.. 
to  work  his  way  over  arid  fields  of  aXiarZ" 
dialectics,  in  search  of  a  O.  E.  D.  ;  '^'^''"^''^^ 
and  he  may  well  wonder  where  a  book  that  is 
so  harnessed  to  the  plodding  tasks  of  prose 
could  ever  have  got  its  acknowledged  poetic 
power.  Apart  from  this  aesthetic  objection, 
also,  there  are  not  wanting  elements  of  the 
book,  even  in  its  purely  controversial  portions, 
which  remonstrate  against  being  pressed  too 
rigorously  into  such  a  mould.  For  one  thing, 
the  Lord's   assumed   decision  of  the 

.  .  To  such  a- 

question,  when  we  come  to  examme  debate  the 

,        .    .  .        T  ,   ,  Lord's 

it,  IS  no  decision  :  it  does  not  address   -^vordsare 

no  decision, 

itself  to  what  the  men  are  debating 
at  all.     In  order  to  make  it  apply  to  the  case, 
we   have  to  resort   to  what  may   be   infeiTed 
from  this  and  that.     This  fact  has  not  escaped 
the  notice  of  interpreters  ;  and  Elihu,  ^^^  ^^^-^^ 
who  is  the  wax  nose  of  the  critics,  is  ^otfyhTdefi- 
brought  in  very  opportunely,  being  as  ZThSs%. 
much  of  a  refuge  on  one  theory  as  he  ^^"^' 
is  a  stumbling-block  on  others.     And  indeed 
his  words  sum  up  the  discussion,  it  must  be 
owned,  more  really  than  do  the   Lord's  ;    for 
which  reason  he  is  regarded  by  some  as  fur- 


14  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

nishing  "  the  first  half  of  the  positive  solution 
of  the  problem."  Thus  it  is  given  to 
{LanZ),p.  him,  as  he  plumed  himself  on  doing,  to 
set  right  both  Job  and  his  friends. 
Yet  here  we  encounter  another  difficulty  ;  for 
Elihu  is  abruptly  dismissed  by  the  first  word 
Sectio7i  from  the  whirlwind  as  one  who  ''  dark- 
XXVI.  2,3.  QYiQth.  counsel  by  words  without 
knowledge,"  and  Job  is  singled  out  at  the  end, 
of  all  the  disputants,  as  the  only  one  who  has 
Section  "spoken  of  God  the  thing  that  is 
XXX. 3,12.  YighX..'''  If  the  poem  .is  a  debate,  its 
ending  must  be  regarded  as  vague.  Then 
further,  when  we  come  to  examine  into  the 
manner  in  which  the  debaters  answer 
one  another  we  find  little  of  that  vig- 
orous give  and  take  which  we  asso- 
ciate with  the  close  grasp  and  analysis  of  a 
question.  The  speakers  wander  wide  of  the 
mark  that  we  have  set  for  them  ;  there  is  little 
real  progress  in  the  reasoning,  and  much  that 
we  have  to  explain,  or  excuse,  on  the  conven- 
ient ground  of  Oriental  discursiveness.  Job,^ 
who  is  regarded  as  the  uncompromising  antag- 
onist of  all  the  others,  not  infrequently  seems 
see,/orex-  ^^  g^vc  away  his  case;  and  once,  in- 
'tionxix.'"  deed,  he  so  closely  reechoes  his  op- 
^'~'^^'  ponents'  thought  that  some  interpre- 

ters have  been  inclined  to  give  his  speech  to 


Nor  is  the 
debate,  as 
such,  self- 
consistetit. 


THE   INTRO D  UC TOR  V  S TUD  V  1 5 

Zophar.  Then  there  is  the  twenty-eighth  chap- 
ter, the  magnificent  praise  of  Wis-  secf/onxix. 
dom,  which  certainly  no  one  would  'f^--^^'^- 
consent  to  banish  from  the  poem  ;  yet  into  this 
scheme  of  a  debate  it  fits  so  poorly,  and  seems 
with  all  its  princely  beauty  so  out  of  place, 
that  it  is  conjectured  by  Professor  Delitzsch  to  . 
have  been  an  insertion  from  the  author's  or 
some  later  editor's  portfoho. 

We  thus  find  that  the  debate  theory,  with 
its  assumed  main  subject,  "The  mystery  of 
God's  providential  government  of  men,"  does 
not  result  in  an  exposition  so  homogeneous  as 
we  could  wish.     Some  parts  of  the 

.  ,       General  re- 

poem  are  left  m  rather  unstable  equi-  suit  o/  this 

viezv. 

librium,  while  others  have  to  be 
pressed  quite  arbitrarily  into  the  scheme  that 
we  have  made  for  them.  The  same  fate  would, 
I  feel  sure,  befall  any  other  abstrac-  unsatis/ac- 
tion,  or  general  proposition,  that  ^any'did^tic 
might  be  taken  as  the  supreme  goal  °^^^''^' 
of  the  poem's  teaching  ;  the  trouble  lies  with 
the  didacticism  itself  rather  than  with  any 
particular  expression  of  it.  Any  object  that 
contemplates  being  wrought  out  by  discussion 
alone  must  of  necessity  leave  the  interpreter 
stranded  far  short  of  his  ideal  resting-point, 
which  is  only  in  that  place  where  he  sees  all 
the  parts  of  the  book  in  their  proper  position, 


1 6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

and  doing  what  the  deepest  genius  of  the  work 
requires. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  present  plan  to  enumer- 
ate    the    theories,     sometimes     gro- 

A  glance  at  i         r-        r         i        i 

certain  7>?e-  tesquelv  lar-fetched,  that  have  been 

chnnical  izi-     . 

terpreta-  imposed  On  this  long-suffering  Book 
of  Job.  Nor  need  I  stay  to  describe 
at  length  the  arithmetical  style  of  interpreta- 
tion, which  works  out  the  poem's  problem,  so 
to  say,  by  the  rule  of  three  ;  laboriously  com- 
puting the  three  sections  of  the  book,  the 
three  parts  of  the  poem  proper,  the  three  cycles 
of  speeches,  the  three  pairs  in  each  cycle,  the 
three  discourses  of  Elihu,^  the  three  strophes 
in  many  of  the  speeches,  and  the  three  temp- 
tations of  Job.  On  this  line  of  ex- 
fe^tkejarts  posltlon  the  tcndcncy,  already  men- 
tioned,  to  assign  one  of  Job  s  speeches 
to  Zophar  is  augmented  by  the  fact  that 
thereby  the  third  round  of  debate  and  the 
three-times-three  speeches  of  Job  and  his 
friends  are  charmingly  completed ;  and  poor 
EHhu's  tenure  is  made  more  precarious  by  the 
fact,  forsooth,  that  he  is  a  fourth  speaker,  who 
comes  unintroduced  by  the  Prologue.  All  this 
seems  to  me  the  sad  result  of  trying  to  stretch 
a  living  poem  on  the  Procrustean  rack  of  a 

1  So  reckoned,  I  suppose,  in  order  to  preserve  the  general 
symmetry  ;  though  as  matter  of  fact  Elihu  speaks  four  times. 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  1/ 

dead,  mechanical  plan.  I  ought  not,  perhaps, 
to  pass  over  Elihu  with  such  slight  notice 
here,  seeing  that  just  now  in  the  critical  realm 
he  is  everywhere  spoken  against ;  nor  would 
I  venture  to  leave  him  thus  did  I  not  hope  to 
make  clear  by  and  by  that  the  poem,  as  it  now 
stands,  has  an  artistic  unity  obvious  enough 
to  reconcile  him  fully  to  his  place. 

For  an  artistic  unity  the  poem  certainly  has  ; 
let  not  the  foregoing  criticisms  be  taken  as 
urged  against  that  fact ;  a  unity  more  compre- 
hensive and  poetic,  and  at  the  same  time  not 
less  absolute,  than  could  be  obtained 

Wherein 

on  the  lines  I  have  described.     Only,  centres  the 

•'        artistic  unt- 

that  unity  centres  in  a  person  rather  tyo/the 

•'  -'  poem. 

than  in  a  system  of  thought  or  reason- 
ing ;  it  is  Job  himself,  the  man  Job,  with  his 
bewilderment  of  doubt,  his  utter  honesty  with 
himself  and  the  world,  his  outreaching  faith,  his 
loyalty  through  all  darkness  and  mystery  to 
what  is  Godlike,  who  is  the  solution  of  the  Job- 
problem,  far  more  truly  than  Job's  words,  or 
the  words  of  Elihu,  or  the  august  address  from 
the  whirlwind.  How  God  deals  with  men,  and 
how  men  may  interpret  his  dealings ;  why 
God  sees  fit  to  afflict  the  righteous  ;  these  are 
indeed  important  questions,  and  not  to  be 
ignored  ;  but  more  vital  still  is  the  question 
what  Job  isy  becomes,  achieves,  in  the  fiery 


1 8  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

trial  of  God's  unexplained  visitation.  In  the 
answer  to  that  personal  question  lies  the  su- 
preme answer  to  all  the  rest.  It  is  not  a  mere 
author  that  we  find  here,  but  a  man.  And  as 
we  trace  the  progress  of  Job's  soul,  step  by 
step,  revealed  to  us  through  his  own  words 
and  through  the  attacks  of  his  friends,  we 
shall  be  brought  to  a  contemplation  of  great- 
ness in  life  and  character  such  as,  for  sub- 
limity, it  will  be  hard  to  parallel  in  literature, 
however  highly  we  may  value  the  divinest 
creations  of  an  ^Eschylus  or  a  Milton. 

Thus,  in  the  person  and  spiritual  history  of 
Hmvtkis  J'^b'  ^^  ^^^  brought  back  to  the  nar- 
IZirnarra-  ^ativc  basis  which,  so  long  as  we  con- 

tive element,     g.^^^.  ^^^j^  ^^^  disCOUrSCS  of  the  pOCm, 

we  are  in  danger  of  ignoring.  Under  these 
discourses  we  are  to  trace  not  the  building  of 
a  system,  but  the  progress  of  a  character,  tried, 
developed,  victorious  ;  for  they  reveal  how  the 
patriarch  works  out,  or  perhaps  we  may  better 
say  embodies,  the  solution  of  a  great  problem. 
What,  then,  is  the  problem,  if  such  is  its  solu- 
tion }  We  need  not  look  far  for  the  answer 
statement  to  this  qucstiou.  Thc  problem,  pro- 
'probtin.  pounded  by  Satan  at  the  outset,  and 
tested  by  permission  of  Jehovah,  is,  ''  Doth  Job 
fear  God  for  nought  ?"  This  is,  of  course, 
the  sneer  of  utter  selfishness  against  all  that 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  1 9 

is  loyal  and  disinterested  :  it  asks,  in  effect,  Is 
there  such  a  thing  as  whole  -  souled,  self -for 
getting  service  of  God,  just  for  His  sake  and 
for  righteousness'  sake  ?  Nor  is  such  a  ques- 
tion, we  must  admit,  very  strange  in  a  world 
where  the  fear  of  God  is  regarded  as  the  sure 
road  to  worldly   prosperity.     Where  HowUan- 

.....  .       s-werstothe 

such  an  idea  prevails  it  is  quite  possi-  ageifiwhkh 

it  %vas  pro- 

ble  for  piety  to  become,  to  all  intents  pomided. 
and  purposes,  merely  a  refined  selfishness ; 
how  can  we  tell  from  the  outside  whether  it 
is  serving  God  for  His  sake  or  because  such 
service  is  a  paying  investment }  Yes  :  there 
is  a  place  in  history  where  the  question  just 
fits  in  ;  Satan  has  found  the  weak  point  in  that 
Old  Testament  standard  of  piety  and  its  re- 
ward. And  Job's  life,  as  it  is  traced  in  the 
glowing,  indignant,  faith-inspired  words  of  his 
complaint,  is  the  triumphant  answer,  ^j^^  y^^ 
Job  does  fear  God  for  nought:  that  ''^"''''• 
is,  his  integrity  is  no  vulgar  barter  for  wages, 
as  Satan  supposes,  but  deeply  founded  in  the 
truth  of  things,  —  so  deeply  that  he  takes 
leave  of  friends,  of  family,  of  life,  nay,  of  God 
himself,  as  he  has  hitherto  regarded  God,  in 
order  to  be  true.  And  if  Job,  a  man  like  our- 
selves, has  wrought  out  the  answer,  then  the 
answer  exists  in  humanity.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as   disinterested  piety,  and  it  contains 


20  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

whole    worlds   of   faith   and    insight.      Or,  to 

gather  the  history  before  us  into  a  sentence : 

There  is  a  service  of  God  which  is  not 

The  solution  WORK  FOR  REWARD  :  IT  IS  A  HEART- 
''ap^oposV"'  LOYALTY,  A  HUNGER  AFTER  God's 
Hon.  PRESENCE,  WHICH   SURVIVES  LOSS  AND 

CHASTISEMENT  ;  WHICH  IN  SPITE  OF  CONTRA- 
DICTORY SEEMING  CLEAVES  TO  WHAT  IS  GOD- 
LIKE  AS  THE  NEEDLE  SEEKS  THE  POLE  ;  AND 
WHICH  REACHES  UP  OUT  OF  THE  DARKNESS  AND 
HARDNESS  OF  THIS  LIFE  TO  THE  LIGHT  AND 
LOVE  BEYOND. 

This,  if  we  must  chill  it  down  from  the  glow 
of  its  personal  and  poetic  utterance  to  a  gene- 
ralization, is  what,  as  I  conceive,  the  Book  of 
Job  stands  for.  But  of  this  answer,  as  of  the 
problem,  the  hero  is  as  little  aware  as  the  rest. 
Wrought  out  in  darkness  and  anguish,  it  is 
known  only  to  those  celestial  spectators  who 
rejoice,  and  to  that  scoffing  spirit  who  is  dis- 
comfited by  it.  For  the  answer  is  not  put  in 
words,  nor  made  a  didactic  issue :  it  is  lived. 

u. 

If,  then,  this  poem  centres  in  a  hero,  whose 
//.  Its  lit-  spiritual  achievements  it  makes  known 
Tju'^Epic!^'  to  US,  we  have  thus  indicated  the  lit- 
erary class  to  which  it  is  to  be  predominantly 
assigned.     I  regard  this  ancient  book  as  the 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  21 

record  of  a  sublime  epic  action,  whose  scene  is 
not  the  tumultuous  battle-field,  nor  the  arena 
of  rash  adventure,  but  the  solitary  soul  of  a 
righteous  man.  It  contains,  though  in  some- 
what unusual  form,  the  governing  elements  of 
an  epic  poem. 

This  designation  of  the  poem  as  an  epic, 
however,  is  not  to  be  made  without  rheword 
some  confession  of  how  little,  as  well  taken  in  a 
as  how  much,  there  is  to  justiiy  it.  se7ise. 
The  whole  genius  of  the  Hebrew  literature  is 
so  different  from  that  of  the  Greeks  that  it  is 
only  by  an  accommodation  of  terms  that  we 
can  apply  to  it  the  categories  derived  from  the 
forms  of  the  latter.  This  poem,  for  instance, 
looks  at  first  sight  more  like  a  drama  than 
an  epic  ;  it  contains  fairly  individualized  char- 
acters, and  its  thought  is  developed  by  means 
of  dialogue  or  colloquy.  It  has  been  called  a 
didactic  poem  ;  and  such  undoubtedly  it  is,  if, 
as  many  think,  it  is  preeminently  a  debate. 
Nor  is  there  lacking  in  every  part  a  lyric  in- 
tensity which  not  infrequently  seems  almost  to 
sweep  the  action  away  from  its  logical  moor- 
ings into  its  own  headlong  utterance  of  a 
mood.  Yet  in  spite  of  these  unto-  Matthew 
ward  modifications,  it  is  fruitful  and  saysinCrm- 

.  „  _  ,  cisfn,  second 

significant  to  refer  the  poem  to  a  pre-  series, p.  137- 
vailing  type.     "  We   may   rely  upon  it,"  says 


22  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

Matthew  Arnold,  "  that  we  shall  not  improve 
upon  the  classification  adopted  by  the  Greeks 
for  kinds  of  poetry ;  that  their  categories  of 
epic,  dramatic,  lyric,  and  so  forth,  have  a  nat- 
ural propriety,  and  should  be  adhered  to.  It 
may  sometimes  seem  doubtful  to  which  of  two 
categories  a  poem  belongs  ;  whether  this  or 
that  poem  is  to  be  called,  for  instance,  narra- 
tive or  lyric,  lyric  or  elegiac.  But  there  is  to 
be  found  in  every  good  poem  a  strain,  a  pre- 
dominant note,  which  determines  the  poem  as 
belonging  to  one  of  these  kinds  rather  than 
the  other ;  and  here  is  the  best  proof  of  the 
value  of  the  classification,  and  of  the  advantage 
of  adhering  to  it." 

To    the  view  of  the  poem's  class  which   I 
Seeming       havc   vcuturcd   here   to   take,    there 

lack  of  epic  ,         , .  _  ,  , 

actio7i,  presents    itself    at    first    thought   a 

grave  objection.  The  narrative,  the  action, 
seems  lacking.  The  whole  course  of  the  poem 
is  developed  through  what  Job  and  Eliphaz 
and  Bildad  and  the  rest  "  answered  and  said." 
and  hem  ex-  ^^7  thcrc  uot,  howcvcr,  be  an  action 
plained.  dlsgulscd,  au  action  wherein  the 
speaker's  words,  like  windows,  reveal  the  great 
spiritual  events  that  are  taking  place  in  the 
speaker's  soul  t  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to 
show  that  there  is,  and  a  grand  one.  An  un- 
usual action  it  indeed  is,  for  poetry  ;  perhaps, 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  23 

therefore,  requiring  just  that  union  of  struc- 
tural types,  the  narrative  and  the  argumenta- 
tive, which  I  have  already  pointed  out.  Fur- 
ther, the  Hebrew  poetic  style,  with  its  basis 
the  parallehsm,  which  pauses  at  the  riie  Hebrew 
end  of  every  line  and  develops  the  ^«'-^^^^^««^' 
thought  by  perpetual  repetition  and  antithesis, 
is  singularly  unadapted  to  narration,  iudhad- 
—  so  unadapted,  that  when  the  He-  ^^"^^^^-^ 
brew  author  has  a  simple  story  to  tell,  as,  for 
instance,  in  the  Prologue  and  Epilogue  to  our 
poem,  he  has  spontaneous  recourse  to  prose. 
On  the  other  hand,  for  a  sententious 
lesson,  or  mashal,  for  the  brief  and 
telling  utterance  of  emotion,  aspiration,  precept, 
the  Hebrew  poetic  style  is  a  remarkably  felici- 
tous medium.  Now  in  the  Book  of  Job  we  have 
indeed  a  story,  an  action,  but  of  very  peculiar 
kind :  the  scene,  so  far  as  appears  to  the  eye, 
only  an  ash-heap  outside  an  Arab  city,  but  to 
the  inner  view  the  soul  of  man,  with  all  its 
warring  passions,  beliefs,  convictions.  It  is 
the  spiritual  history  of  the  man  of  Uz,  his 
struggles  and  adventures,  unknown  to  sense, 
but  real  to  faith,  as  his  fervid  thoughts  "go 
sounding  on,  a  dim  and  perilous  way."  For 
portraying  such  an  action,  so  as  to  lay  the  in- 
most thoughts  and  feelings  of  one  soul  upon 
another,  this  mashal  style,  with  its  trenchant 


24  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

parallelisms,  so  far -from  being  a  disadvantage, 
is  perhaps  the  unique  and  only  adequate  me- 
dium. Through  it  not  the  author  speaks,  but 
the  man  himself,  laying  bare  the  secrets  of  his 
own  heart,  and  charging  his  words  with  his 
whole  inner  history.  Curiously  enough,  a 
somewhat  similar  method  of  developing  a  nar- 
rative action  has  been  largely  employed  by  the 
poet  of  our  own  day  who  has  done  most  to 
sound  the  depths  of  spiritual  experience, 
Robert  Browning,  whose  so-called  "  dramatic 
method "  is  merely  his  deliberately  adopted 
way  of  bodying  forth  at  once  the  inner  and 
outer  elements. of  a  story,  — 

.  "By  making  speak,  myself  kept  out  of  view, 

Sordello,  be-        The  very  man  as  he  was  wont  to  do, 
ginning.  ^^^^  leaving  you  to  say  the  rest  for  him  ; " 

and  every  student  of  Browning  will  testify  to 
the  wonderful  vividness  with  which  each  one 
of  his  chosen  characters  is  made  to  live  a  chap- 
ter of  his  life  before  our  eyes. 

But  if  so  much  is  conceded  to  the  dramatic 
element,  why  not  frankly  call  the  poem  a 
drama  ?  Well,  I  am  not  disposed  to  quarrel 
about  the  terms  in  which  we  are  to  designate 
its  form  ;  either  term,  epic  or  drama,  has  to  be 
accommodated  to  a  new  application.  Yet  why 
call  it  a  drama,  and  deny  the  term  to  the  Pla- 
tonic dialogues }  for  it  is  in  these,  I  think,  that 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  25 

our  poem,  as    to   structure,   finds   its   nearest 
dramatic   parallel.     It  is    because   the  action, 
though  to  a  degree  dramatic    in  form,  moves 
for  the  most    part    independently  of 
the  impact  of   mood  on  mood  or  of  tion,  mver- 

theless,  of 

character  on  character,  that  1  am  un-  the  term 

epic. 

able  to  regard  the  poem  as  in  the 
truest  sense  dramatic  ;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  because  of  the  vigorous  onset  of  spiritual 
forces  under  the  dialogue,  self-moved  even 
more  than  set  in  motion  from  other  minds,  val- 
iantly meeting  hostile  doubts  and  trials,  mak- 
ing memorable  conquests  in  integrity  and 
faith,  that  I  discern  in  this  testing  and  triumph 
of  Job  a  predominating  epic  strain.  Is  it  less 
truly  epic  than  that  conflict  of  temptation  in  the 
wilderness  which  Milton  has  sung:,  — 

n-    ^         ^  ■  Milton^  s 

a  conflict  whose  weapons  were  pier-  Paradise 
cing  words  and  whose  battle-ground 
was  the  soul  of  the  Son  of  Man  }     I  use  the 
term  epic,  because,  whatever  its  technical  .type, 
the  poem  is  the  embodiment  of  a  veritable  epos^ 
of  a  history  which,  whether  real  or  invented,  lies 
at  the  very  basis  of  pure  religion,  full  of  sig- 
nificance for  its  integrity  and  perpetuity.  What 
I  mean  by  this  may  be  seen  illustrated  m.^sirated 
in  the  Prometheus  Bound  of  yEschy-  %ttealuf 
lus,  which  is  truly  the  embodiment  of  ^''""'^• 
a  national  epos,  albeit  in  dramatic  form.    In  that 


26  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

poem  as  in  this,  quite  apart  from  the  dialogue 
or  narrative  manner  of  presentation,  which  is 
determined  by  the  vogue  of  the  age  and  the 
conditions  under  which  the  work  is  published, 
our  paramount  interest  is  centred  in  the  legend 
or  saga  which  lies  at  the  foundation,  in  the  he- 
roic action  which  glorifies  some  revered  name 
of  universal  tradition,  and  in  the  national  or 
religious  significance  of  the  whole.  These  are 
marks  of  the  epos  ;  and  these  are  what  give  its 
basal  literary  character  to  the  Book  of  Job. 
That  the  poem  before  us  was  not  the  pure 
invention  of  its  author,  but  founded  on 

The  legeitd-  t    i      i  i  t    •  •  i 

ary  basis  of   3.  Job  Icgcud  or  traditiou,  IS  the  con- 

thepoem.  .  .  i         •    ,  , 

elusion  most  m  accord  with  what  we 
know  of  the  literary  ways  of  the  Hebrew  writ- 
ers. They  wrote  with  practical  objects  in  view, 
appealing  from  real  life  to  real  life,  and  not  in 
order  to  please  the  world  with  the  power  or  fe- 
licity of  their  literary  achievements.  Having 
a  history  marvelously  rich  in  life-lessons,  whose 
details  and  spirit  had  been  faithfully  instilled 
by  fathers  into  generations  of  sons,  they  had 
a  store  of  material  which  would  ill  brook  to  be 
supplanted  by  mere  efforts  of  the  fancy  ;  es- 
pecially when,  as  in  this  case,  the  past  was  to 
influence  the  destiny  of  the  future.  It  is  into 
this  treasure  heap  of  tradition  that  Ezekiel 
dips,  when,  in  threatening  calamity  on  the  rec- 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  27 

reant  land,  he  says,  "  Though  these  three 
men,  Noah,  Daniel,  and  Job,  were  in  EzeMeixiv. 
it,  they  should  not  deliver  but  their  ^'^• 
own  souls  by  their  righteousness,  saith  the 
Lord  God."  This  we  know  because  the  Book 
of  Daniel  was  not  yet  written  :  Daniel  was  a 
widely  revered  name  ;  Noah  was  an  historic 
name;  and  this  mention  of  Job  seems  to  de- 
rive its  significance  more  from  an  age-filling 
tradition  than  from  a  book. 

'*  When  we  inquire,  however,"  says  Professor 
Davidson,     "what   elements   of    the 
book  really  belono:  to  the  tradition,  a  job^carn- 

,     .     .  •'  ^       ,  „  .  bridge  Bible 

definite  answer  can  hardly  be  given,  /or  schools), 
A  tradition  could  scarcely  exist  which 
did  not  contain  the  name  of  the  hero,  and  the 
name  'Job'  is  no  doubt  historical.  A  mere 
name,  however,  could  not  be  handed  down  with- 
out some  circumstances  connected  with  it ;  and 
we  may  assume  that  the  outline  of  the  tradition 
included  Job's  great  prosperity,  the  unparal- 
leled afflictions  that  befell  him,  and  possibly 
also  his  restoration.  Whether  more  was  em- 
braced may  be  uncertain."  It  was  probably  a 
tradition  full  enough  so  that  to  those  who  were 
familiar  with  it,  as    to  thf  Aposub 

X  ,      1  ,  .  James  z/.  ^ir 

James  s  later  age,  coiili^  be  said,  ''  Ye 

have  heard  of  t.te  patience  of  Job,  and  have 

seen  the  end  ^f  the  Lord."     Further  to  un- 


28  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

ravel  the  various  threads,  traditional  and  other, 
of  which  the  book  is  woven  together,  could 
serve  no  practical  end.  Suffice  it  for  us  that 
out  of  these  simple  materials,  because  they 
represent  a  spiritual  experience  that  taxes  the 
whole  gamut  of  expression  to  utter,  soijie  un- 
known author,  grandly  regardless  of  the  tech- 
nical restraints  of  drama  or  lyric  or  narrative, 
has  given  to  the  ages  what  we  may  regard  as 
the  Hebrew  national  Epic,  expressed  in  a  style 
and  spirit  peculiarly  Hebrew. 

Every  nation  according  to  its  genius.     We 
often  speak  of  that  idea  of  symmetry 

As  an  Epic,  ,  . 

Job  an  expo-  aud  bcauty  whose  evolution  seems  to 

neiit  of  the  .       .  , 

naiio7iai       havc  bccu  the  mission  ot  the  Greeks 

ge7iius. 

in  the  world,  and  of  that  idea  of  law 
and  organism  which  we  get  from  the  Romans. 
Not  only  through  their  art  and  their  institu- 
tions, but  also  through  the  spirit  of  their  liter- 
ature, these  nations  have  impressed  upon  the 
world  their  distinctive  character.  We  know 
also  that  no  other  nations  have  ever  approached 
the  Hebrews  in  their  genius  for  apprehending 
spiritual  truth.  If  the  Hebrews  were  to  give 
to  the  world  an  epic,  would  it  be  a  story  of 
battle  ^nfa' blood  shea,  or  of  strange  adventures 
beyond  the  seas  }  These  by  no  means  repre- 
sent their  national  character.  For  the  most 
genuine  expression  of  their  lifevou  must  look 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  29 

under  the  surface,  in  the  soul,  where  worship 
and  aspiration  and  prophetic  faith  come  face 
to  face  with  God.  And  what  epos  could  more 
truly  gather  into  itself  the  most  sacred  ideal  of 
such  a  nation  than  this  story  of  Job,  the  man 
in  whom  was  wrought  the  supreme  test  of  what 
it  is  to  be  perfect  and  upright,  who  on  his  ash- 
heap,  a  veritable  Hebrew  Prometheus,  contin- 
ued honest  with  himself,  true  to  what  he  saw 
in  the  world,  loyal  to  what  his  soul  told  him 
was  divine,  until  the  storm  was  past  and  his 
foe  shrank  baffled  away  ?  Is  not  such  a  theme 
worth  singing  ? 

The  Epic  of  the  Inner  Life,  —  by  this  name 
we  may  designate  the   book    before 

.  ,      .  .         .  f,  .  The  Epic 

us.     As  such  Its  Significance  is  more  0/ the  inner 

Life. 

than  Hebrew  ;  it  extends  far  beyond 
national  bounds  to  the  universal  heart  of  hu- 
manity ;  nay,  it  is  with  strange  freshness  and 
application  to  the  spiritual  maladies  of  this 
nineteenth  century  of  Christ  that  the  old  Arab 
chief's  struggles  and  victories  come  to  us,  as 
we-turn  the  ancient  pages  anew. 

III. 

That  the  narrative  type  of  structure,  which 
is  the  basis  of  the  poem,  also  preponderates 
throughout,  or  at  least  is  present  in  every  part, 
so  far  as  the  peculiar  poetic  style  will  admit, 


30  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

is  a  not  unreasonable  conjecture.  Let  us  see 
///.  Con-  if  this  is  so,  by  tracing  what  I  have 
TofJinlfty'^  ventured  to  call  its  action,  with  spe- 
ofusparts.  ^j^j  refercncc  to  its  continuity  and 
the  interdependence  of  its  parts. 

Job,  a  man   perfect  and  upright,  who    has 

always  feared  God  and  shunned  evil, 

and  basis  of  aud  whosc  rightcous  life  has   always 

the  aciioH.  .  ,      .       .  .     , 

reaped  its  natural  fruitage  oi  honor 
and  prosperity,  is  suddenly  overwhelmed  with 
the  deepest  afflictions  ;  one  stroke  following 
hard  upon  another  —  loss  of  property,  loss  of 
children,  and  finally  the  most  loathsome  and 
painful  bodily  disease  —  until  he  can  only  long 
for  death.  At  first  he  accepts  his  afiflictions 
devoutly,  attributing  no  injustice  to  God,  and 
sharply  rebuking  any  suggestion  of  disloyalty ; 
but  as  months  of  wretchedness  pass,  and 
friends  bring  up  in  vain  the  commonplaces  of 
explanation  which  he  and  they  have  hitherto 
held  in  common,  his  musing  spirit  finds  itself 
girt  round  with  a  darkness  and  mystery  wholly 
impenetrable.  It  is  a  problem  which  men's 
wisdom  has  not  yet  solved.  Consider  the  diffi- 
culties into  which  he  is  plunged.  Of 
invoiveJ7u    thc  sccuc  lu  heavcii,  where  Satan  has 

Job^s  case.  t         i  t  i  i  i    • 

moved  the  Lord  *'  to  destroy  him 
causelessly,"  Job  has  of  course  no  knowledge. 
No   Satanic   agency   is    visible ;    all   the   data 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  3 1 

point  to  God  as  the  direct  inflicter  of  the 
stroke.  The  four  calamities  occurring  in  one 
day  cannot  be  an  accident  ;  the  fire  from 
heaven  and  the  wind  from  beyond  the  desert 
cannot  be  casualties  of  this  world,  like  the  vio- 
lence of  men  ;  and,  most  indubitable  of  all,  his 
disease,  elephantiasis,  is  universally  regarded 
as  the  most  dread  sign  of  God's  immediate  vis- 
itation. It  is  taken  for  granted  by  all,  Job,  his 
wife,  and  his  friends,  that  he  is  for  some  reason 
the  object  of  God's  wrath.  Here,  then,  is  Job's 
difficulty  :  God  is  punishing  him,  —  and  for 
what  .-*  He  is  conscious  of  no  sin  to  deserve 
it ;  his  "  heart  does  not  reproach  one  of  his 
days."  It  is  strange  that  he  should  perish 
without  knowing  his  crime  ;  strange,  too,  that 
the  heavens  should  be  shut  to  every  call  of  his 
for  explanation.  To  be  so  treated  is  to  be  shut 
off- from  the  "friendship  of  God,"  which  has 
always  been  the  most  cherished  blessing  of  his 
life.  But  this  is  only  the  beginning  of  his  dis- 
tress. If  he,  a  righteous  man,  is  treated  as  if 
he  were  wicked,  then  the  world  is  out  of  joint ; 
the  bounds  of  right  and  wrong,  of  justice  and 
iniquity^  are  wholly  confused  ;  and  where  is 
the  truth  of  things.?  Are  the  powers  that 
work  unseen  arrayed  after  all  on  the  side  of 
evil,  and  against  godliness  }  Is  it  falsehood 
that  wins  in  this  universe }     Such  is  the  laby- 


32  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

rinth  of  ''  dreadful  and  hideous  thoughts " 
through  which  Job  must  grope  his  way  to  the 
light. 

The  course  that  Job  takes  is  set  off  very  sug- 
gestively, by  contrast,  in  the  characters  of  the 
dramatis  personcB  with  whom  he  is  associated. 

Of  these,  the  most  deeply  contrasted  to  Job 
Contrast  be-    is  Satan,  the  Accuser,  at  whose  insti- 

tween  Job  .  .     ,  ^     ,    .         . 

and  Satan,  gation  thc  trial  of  his  integrity  is 
made.  In  studying  this  character,  we  need  to 
dismiss  from  our  minds,  for  the  time  being, 
the  Satanic  traits  that  come  to  light  in  other 
parts  of  Scripture,  and  confine  ourselves  to 
the  record  before  us.  The  being  who  appears 
Satan's  ^crc  SO  familiarly  among  the  sons  of 
character.  Q^^  jg  ^^  Mlltonic  Satan,  no  mon- 
ster of  black  malignity  and  unconquerable  ha- 
tred. The  most  striking  trait  of  his  character 
seems  to  be  simply  restlessness,  unquiet.  In 
his  "  roaming  to  and  fro  in  the  earth  and 
walking  up  and  down  in  it,"  and  in  his  eager- 
ness to  try  experiments  with  Job,  we  are  re- 
minded of  that  New  Testament  evil  spirit, 
who  being  cast  out  of  a  man  "  walketh  through 
See  Lnke  ^ry  placcs,  sccking  rest."  •A  home- 
•^'-  ^^-  less,  unquiet  spirit :  may  we  not  say, 

then,  that  in  Satan  our  author  portrays  a  spirit 
unanchored  to  any  allegiance,  a  spirit  who  has 
lost    his    moorings  }      Being    attached   to   no 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  33 

Father  of  spirits,  to  steady  him  and  give  him 
principle,  all  his  regards  centre  ^in  self-gratifi- 
cation ;  having  no  goal  beyond  the  present, 
he  lives  simply  to  appease  the  restlessness  of  the 
moment.  So  we  find  him,  naturally  enough,  a 
mocking,  detracting,  reckless,  impudent  being, 
observing  and  criticising  all  things,  yet  sympa- 
thizing with  none,  caring  for  no  sufferings, 
responding  to  no  deep  movements  of  heart,  — 
what  Goethe  calls  a  *'schalk."  ^  For  a  being 
like  this,  such  a  thing  as  disinterested  good- 
ness is  simply  non-existent ;  he  has  no  faculty 
to  comprehend  it.  When  he  asks  the  sarcastic 
question,  "  Doth  Job  fear  God  for  nought }  " 
and  when  he  lays  the  wager  with  God  to  sever 
the  patriarch  from  his  allegiance,  he  is  merely 
speaking  out  of  his  own  shallow  selfishness, 
and  interpreting  men  as  good  or  evil,  just  as 
it  happens,  for  a  price.  In  polar  contrast  to 
this    stands    Job.       His    soul    is    so 

Job''s  con- 

deeply    anchored    to   what    is    o^ood  trasted 

^  -^  ^  traits. 

and   true  that  the  idea  of  barter,  of 
work  and  wages,  finds  no  room  in  the  calcu- 
lation, —  nay,  so  deeply  that  he  is  forced  to 

1  Goethe's  imitation  of  this  opening  scene  of  the  Book  of 
Job,  in  his  Prologue  to  Fanst,  brings  out  the  traits  of  Satan's 
character  in  several  suggestive  ways,  which  will  be  traced 
more  particularly  in  the  notes  to  this  section  of  the  transla- 
tion. 


34  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

cut  loose  from  what  his  friends  say  of  God,  to 
take  his  life  in  his  hand  and  remonstrate  with 
God  himself,  as  he  looks  out  on  a  confused 
world;  and  thus,  putting  -uttermost  faith  in 
goodness,  he  "  voyages  through  strange  seas  of 
thought  alone,"  finding  radiant  landing-places 
of  faith  one  after  another,  until  a  new  world 
is  discovered  in  which  he  comes  to  see  that 
being  anchored  to  the  good  and  true  is  being 
anchored  to  God  after  all. 

The  other  contrast  is  afforded  by  the  friends 
Contrast  ^^^  comc  to  visit  him.  They  repre- 
a«Tl2  ^"^  sent,  with  its  outcome  in  character, 
/runds.  ^j^g  Ymd.  of  philosophy  that  the  whole 
devout  world.  Job  with  the  rest,  has  hitherto 
held,  a  philosophy  which  ages  of  wisdom  and 
reflection  have  evolved.  A  philosophy,  more- 
over, that  through  a  long  period  of 
advocate's  o/  national   prosperity   has    crystallized 

the  IVisdojn     ,  r  i  i  i 

philosophy:    mto  a  very  comtortable    and    conve- 

compare  be-        ,  ti        i  ^  r    • 

iow,pp.Q2,  nient  creed,  well  adapted  to  lair  wea- 
ther and  to  the  routines  of  life.  That 
God  deals  with  men  by  an  unchanging  and  in 
the  main  calculable  law,  —  good  receiving  its 
sure  reward  in  prosperity,  wickedness  receiv- 
ing its  unfailing  desert  in  woe,  —  this  we  may 
depend  upon  as  the  principle  on  which  to 
build  our  life.  It  is  a  good  belief  by  which  to 
key  men  up  to  law  and  duty,  a  very  effectual 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  35 

police  regulation  for  the  world.  ^  But  the  fierce 
light  of  Job's  affliction,  so  strange  and  job  takes 
undeserved,  opens  his  eyes  to  see  in  \Z''ivfsdom 
this  philosophy  imperfections  hitherto  '^''^^^''^• 
unsuspected.  First  of  all  he  sees  that  it  rests 
on  an  incomplete  induction  of  facts  :  for  there 
are  afflicted  righteous,  —  he  is  one,  —  and  there 
are  unpunished  wicked,  filling  the  land  with 
their  evil  deeds.  Then,  secondly,  —  and  here 
is  where  his  self-forgetting  integrity  evinces 
its  insight,  —  he  sees  that  this  beUef  may  be 
so  held,  nay,  is  actually  so  held  by  these  very 
friends,  as  to  become  merely  a  refined  sort  of 
work-and-wages  theory.  Serve  God,  and  you 
will  prosper ;  if  woes  come,  betokening  God's 
displeasure,  turn  to  God  anew,  and  prosper 
again.  If  this  were  all, — and  it  very  nearly 
sums  up  the  friends'  creed,  —  we  might  with 
only  too  much  reason  ask,  Does  such  a  be- 
liever fear  God  for  nought  ?  But  to  Job's 
quickened  spiritual  sense  this  is  not  all.  The 
old  imperfect  wisdom  must  be  lifted  to  a  higher 
than  worldly  plane.  In  the  black  shadows  that 
surround  him  come  flashes  of  unspeakable 
things,  new  resting-places  for  faith,  truths  that 
the  unchastened  soul  cannot  appreciate.  Here, 
then,  is  the  contrast  :  the  friends,  who  have 
never  been  quickened  by  suffering,  are  conven- 
tional, speculative  believers,  their  God  a  tradi- 


36  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

tional  God,  remote,  undelighted-in,  their  creed 
a  hide-bound  system,  essentially  worldly  and 
selfish,  for  the  sake  of  which  they  deny  both 
the  righteousness  of  Job  and  the  mystery  of 
evil  that  is  in  the  world  ;  Job,  whose  affliction 
has  startled  him  with  the  sense  that  God's  face 
is  darkened,  turns  loyally  to  God  as  flowers 
turn  to  the  sun,  is  in  agony  of  doubt  untfl  he 
can  identify  God  with  goodness  and  love,  and 
seeking  supremely  after  light,  reality,  personal 
communion,  advances  with  increasing  insight 
until  at  the  end  he  can  say,  ''  I  had  heard  of 
Thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but  now  mine 
eye  seeth  Thee." 

The  voyage  of  Job's  soul  to  God,  his  anchor- 
Theactwfi  ^S^  ^^^  ^^^  lig^t,  which  is  the  action 
^inThTsf'^"''^  foreshadowed  in  the  foregoing  con- 
contrasts.  trasts,  wc  arc  now  ready  to  trace 
somewhat  in  detail. 

The  first  feeling  of  a  soul  thus  plunged  into 
How  Job  undeserved  misery  we  can  readily 
^hisZart7n  dlviuc,  —  thescnscof  utter bewilder- 
'^''^^'-  ment.     This  is  the  feeling  that  finds 

expression  in  Job's  first  speech,  wherein  he 
opens  his  mouth  and  curses  his  day. 
Weariness  of  life,  passionate  desire 
for  death  with  its  rest  and  its  oblivion,  which 
are  the  emotions  that  shape  his  utterance,  are 
after  all  but  the  surface-waves  of  his  agitation ; 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  37 

its  deep  cause  lies  in  his  feeling  that  his  life 
has  lost  its  guidance  and  direction.  He  is  like 
one  whose  way,  hitherto  free  and  clear,  is  sud- 
denly shut  in  by  cloud  and  darkness. 

"Wherefore  giveth  He  light  to  the  wretched, 
And  life  to. the  bitter  in  soul  ?  .  .  .  4^, 42^47] 48- 

To  a  man  whose  way  is  hid, 
And  whom  God  hath  hedged  in  ? " 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  Job's  question  is 
not,  why  he  is  punished,  but  why  a  life  so  bit- 
ter and  dark  should  have  been  given  at  all. 
Punishment  implies  desert,  or  if  not  desert, 
then  injustice.  To  have  given  his  affliction 
the  name  of  punishment  would  have  set  him  at 
once  in  the  attitude  of  seeking  for  its  cause, 
either  in  himself  or  in  God.  That  the  cause 
should  be  in  himself,  either  as  wicked,  or  even 
as  unconsciously  corrupt  through  the  innate 
sinfulness  of  men,  has  never  entered  his  mind; 
on  the  contrary,  one  great  element  of  his  be- 
wilderment is  his  consciousness  of  the  watch- 
ful solicitude  with  which  he  has  hitherto  led  a 
life  of  faithful  integrity  before  God  :  — 

"  For  I  feared  a  fear,  and  it  hath  overtaken  me  ;  . 

And  what  I  dreaded  is  come  upon  me.  51-34. 

I  was  not  heedless,  nor  was  I  at  ease. 
Nor  was  I  at  rest,  —  yet  trouble  came." 

No  more  is  he  ready  to  fasten  the  cause,  even 
by  remote  implication,  upon  God.     His  friends 


38  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

have  not  been  at  him  yet  with  their  theodicies  ; 
and  Job  is  unwilling  to  theorize  or  to  accuse 
where  there  is  no  ray  of  light.  The  only  out- 
let for  his  overburdened  heart,  in  this  opening 
speech,  is  just  to  sigh  over  a  life  that  contains 
no  reason  for  living. 

Thus,  with  the  mournful  comfort  that  sym- 
Effectof  pathizing  friends  are  still  about  him 
IfAe^"""^  to  share  his  woe,  Job  pours  out  the 
friends.  ^-^^^j.  f^Hncss  of  hls  soul.  As  he 
pauses,  however,  he  is  surprised  to  find,  not 
murmurs  of  sympathy,  but  silence  and  averted 
faces.  The  three  friends  have  scented  evil. 
Here  is  a  man  who  when  the  stroke  comes  is 
not  all  submission,  does  not  own  that  it  is 
clear  and  deserved.  He  must  be  set  right,  let 
friendship  stand '  or  fall.  Accordingly,  with 
very  conciliatory  words,  as  of  one  who  would 
do  an  unpleasant  duty  in  the  gentlest  way, 
Eliphaz,  the  eldest  and  wisest  of  the  three, 
takes  him  in  hand,  and  reminds  him  of  his  in- 
consistency :  — 

"  If  one  essay  a  word  with  thee,  wilt  thou  be  offended  ? 

Section  Hi.         Yet  who  Can  forbear  speaking  ? 

^~9-  Behold,  thou  hast  admonished  many, 

And  thou  hast  strengthened  feeble  hands ; 
Thy  words  have  confirmed  the  faltering, 
And  bowing  knees  hast  thou  made  strong ; 
But  now  it  is  come  upon  thee,  —  and  thou  faintest  j 
It  toucheth  thee,  and  thou  art  confounded." 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  39 

Then  he  goes  on  to  read  Job  a  lecture,  in 
which  he  presents  —  in  general  terms,  Euphazs 
and  leaving  Job  to  make  his  own  ap-  '^"^^«^^''- 
plications  —  the  prevailing  doctrine,  hitherto 
unquestioned,  of  sin  and  retribution.  It  is  the 
most  elaborate  discourse  of  the  friends,  and 
anticipates  substantially  their  whole  argument, 
Elihu's  included.  It  is  the  argument  that 
everything  in  the  world  comes  by  justice  and 
desert ;  that  punishment  has  its  sufficient 
cause  in  sin,  open  or  secret ;  and  that  thus  in 
God's  wrath  we  may  read  and  measure  man's 
wickedness.  This  is  what  Job  has  always 
accepted  as  the  fundamental  principle  of  the 
Hebrew  philosophy  ;  nor  is  it  to  be  called  un- 
true, so  much  as  inadequate  and  aside  from 
the  present  case.  Of  course  it  can  have  but 
one  implication.  To  talk  of  sin  and  punish- 
ment now,  though  in  ever  so  general  terms,  is 
merely  to  accuse  Job  of  sin.  It  is  meaningless 
otherwise.  So  little  is  this  implication  dis- 
guised that  forthwith  Job  is  solemnly  admon- 
ished to  make  his  peace  with  God  —  as  if  he 
had  ever  been  at  war  with  God !  But  there 
is  the  tell-tale  leprosy ;  the  friends  cannot 
get  over  that.  If  it  does  not  mean  that 
some  one  has  sinned,  it  seems  to  mean  some- 
thing about  God  which  it  were  impiety  to 
think  of.    • 


40  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

The  three  friends  all  ply  Job  in  turn  with 
essentially   the    same    interpretation 

Essential  r       ^  ^      •  i   •  t      • 

identity  of    01   thc  case,  their  one  object  being  at 
friends' ar.    all    hazards    to   justify    God.       They 
vary  mainly  in  the  manner  of  enfor- 
cing their  views.     Eliphaz,  who  assumes  the 
calmest  and  most  judicial  tone,  draws 
his    arguments    from    the    universal 
"natural  law  in  the  spiritual  world  :  "  — 

*'  Bethink  thee  now  :  who  that  was  guiltless  hath  perished } 
Section  Hi.      And  where  have  the  upright  been  cut  off  } 
IZ-I5-  As  I  have  seen,  —  they  that  plough  iniquity, 

And  that  sow  wickedness,  reap  the  same." 

He  has  also  a  deep  spiritual  view,  revealed 

Section  Hi.     ^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^  ^^Y^  ^Y  ^  visiou,  of  the 
^^^•^-  corruption  that  lurks  unseen  in  the 

heart,  rendering  even  angels  unclean,  and 
making  desert  of  punishment  an  inevitable  ac- 
companiment of  the  creature.  Such  Calvinism 
before  Calvin  as  this,  which  reappears  more 
than  once  in  the  friends'  arguments,  is  the 
hardest  blow  directed  at  Job's  sturdy  con- 
sciousness of  innocence;  it  "poisons 
the  wells."  Bildad,  whose  anger  is 
roused  by  Job's  assumption  of  righteousness 
and  complaint  to  God,  emphasizes  the  perfect 
justice  that  orders  all  things :  — 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  41 

"  Will  God  pervert  the  right  ? 

Or  will  the  Almighty  pervert  justice  ?  Section  v. 

If  thy  children  have  sinned  against  Him,  4-7- 

So  hath  He  given  them  over  into  the  hand  of  their  trans- 
gression," — 

and  corroborates  his  words  by  quoting   from 
the  wisdom  of  the  ancients.     Zophar, 
who  is  still  more  incensed  by  Job's 
passionate    remonstrances   with  God  and  call 
for  explanation,  urges  the  folly  of  seeking  the 
mystery  of  God's  ways  :  — 

"  But  oh  that  God  might  indeed  speak, 

And  open  His  lips  against  thee,  Section  vii. 

And  show  thee  the  hidden  things  of  wisdom,  —      ^~^^- 

For  there  is  fold  on  fold  to  truth  ;  — 

Then  know  thou,  that  God  abateth  to  thee  of  thine  iniquity. 

Canst  thou  find  out  the  secret  of  God? 
Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  to  perfection  .-* 
Heights  of  heaven  ;  —  what  canst  thou  do  ? 
Deeper  than  Sheol ;  —  what  canst  thou  know  ? 
Longer  than  the  earth  is  its  measure, 
And  broader  than  the  sea." 

So  by  their  triply  bulwarked  argument  the 
friends  seem  to  take  away  all  of  Job's  stand- 
ing-ground. If  he  falls  back  on  what  his  heart 
assures  him  of  his  innocence,  he  is  confronted 
by  the  unescapable  corruption  of  the  creature ; 
if  he  besieges  the  heavens  for  some  explana- 
tion of  his  undeserved  misery,  he  is  driven 
back  by  the  mystery  which  forbids  profane 
approach.     All  that  is  permitted  to  him  is  to 


free  course 
to  his  own 
thoughts. 


42  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

bless  the  brazen  hardness  by  which  he  is  en- 
compassed, and  to  call  it  justice. 

To  these  arguments  of  the  friends  Job  does 
Be/ore  an-  ^ot  rcply  at  Icugth  uutll  all  have 
y"obgk>es  spoken.  He  is  musing  onward  in  a 
way  of  his  own.  Yet  he  marks  what 
they  say,  and  it  has  its  effect  in 
kindling  his  own  thoughts,  which  in  this  part 
of  the  poem  rise  to  their  highest  intensity. 
Nor  does  it  occur  to  him  to  deny  their  asser- 
tions :  to  what  they  say  he  answers,  "  Of  a 
truth  I  know  it  is  so,  —  who  knoweth  not 
things  like  these  .^"  And  yet  from  the  begin- 
ning their  well-rehearsed  words  are  strangely 
insipid ;  familiar  to  him  always,  they  have  sud- 
denly shriveled  into  the  commonest  common- 
place, with  no  vitality,  no  power  to  reach  the 
source  of  his  trouble  :  — 

"  Doth  the  wild  ass  bray  over  the  fresh  grass  ? 
Section  iv.  Or  loweth  the  ox  over  his  fodder  ? 

<i-^4-  Can  it  be  eaten  —  what  is  tasteless,  unsalted  ? 

Or  is  there  savor  in  the  white  of  an  egg  "i 

My  soul  refuseth  to  touch ! 

They  are  as  loathsome  food  to  me." 

It  breaks  his  heart,  too,  to  see  his  friends  turn- 
H  is  plea  for  ^^S  away  from  him,  just  at  this  time 
friendship,  ^j^gj^  ^  frlcnd's  opcu  heart  would  be 
a  haven  of  refuge.  Job  has  evidently  built  a 
great  deal  on  the  love  of  friends  ;  and  as  this 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  43 

fails  him  we  shall  see,  in  the  sequel,  how  he 
builds  more,  but  on  foundations  that  are  out  of 
sight.  Plaintively  he  beseeches  them  see section 
to  return  and  show  him  wherein  he  '^■'^^'^^■ 
has  erred,  to  look  with  brotherly  eyes  into  his 
case.  But  there  is  no  comfort  in  them.  They 
are  judging  him  by  the  visitation  that  has 
overtaken  him,  and  think  that  they  are  justify- 
ing God  by  withholding  sympathy  where  God 
has  apparently  withdrawn  favor.  It  is  a  case 
wherein  they  deem  that  they  must  choose  be- 
tween God  and  friendship  ;  but  strange  it  is 
to  Job'  that  their  attitude  toward  him  should 
be  determined  by  an  intellectual  theory  rather 
than  by  that  natural  brotherly  affection  which 
is  "  likest  God  within  the  soul." 

Meanwhile,  one  thing  is  left  to  Job  :  to  be 
honest  with  himself,  to  respect  his  His  one  re- 
own  convictions  of  right,  to  cherish  Tsty^vlth"^ 
the  integrity  that  has  alv>^ays  been  his  '^'''"^^• 
life.  The  desire  to  leave  this  intact  and  be- 
yond the  reach  of  temptation  sharpens  even 
his  longing  for  death  :  — 

"  Oh  that  my  request  might  come  ! 

And  that  God  would  grant  my  longing  Section  iv. 

That  it  would  please  God  to  crush  me  ;  13-21- 

That  He  would  loose  His  hand  and  cut  me  off. 
For  then  it  would  still  be  my  comfort,  — 
Yea,  I  should  exult  in  pain,  though  He  spare  not,  — 
That  I  have  not  denied  the  words  of  the  Holy  One." 


44  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

Here,  then,  at  the  outset  Job  has  struck  the 
key-note  ;  has  reached  the  intrenchment  where 
the  battle  is  to  be  fought  out  to  the  end :  loy- 
see  section  ^^^y  to  his  own  ideal  of  godlike  and 
iv.  22-27.  holy.  It  is  with  trembling  conscious- 
ness of  his  own  weakness  that  he  sees  the  long 
conflict  before  him  ;  but  to  live  necessitates  it. 
As  the  friends  go  on  with  their  pitiless  ex- 
position of  God's  dealings  with  men, 
ing  order      Job  is  bccoming  aware  of  the  full  sig- 

outof  chaos. 

nmcance  01  his  case.  It  is  a  season 
of  testing,  when  his  own  state,  physical  and 
spiritual,  the  doctrines  in  which  he  has  always 
believed,  and  the  interpretations  that  the 
friends  are  pressing  upon  him,  all  come  up  in' 
a  disordered  review  before  his  mind  and  grad- 
ually crystallize  into  a  definite  conclusion. 
Eliphaz  has  already  recounted  what  was  re- 
sectioniii.  vealed  to  him  by  vision,  and  intimated 
"^^^  that  Job,  by  his  anger,  is  losing  the 

ability  to  see  as  the  immortals  see.  But  Job  will 
not  let  himself  be  cut  off  from  the  judgment 
e  ,.    ■       of  his  own  case.     He  avers  that  in 

c>ectio7i  IV. 

•^9-6^-  calling  himself  righteous  he  is  speak- 

ing out  of  a  spiritual  perception  of  good  and 
evil  that  is  still  sane  and  true.  Strong  in  such 
Section  iv.  confidencc,  he  addresses  himself  to 
loo-iob.  ^^g  enigma  before  him.  He  cannot 
understand  why  that  unknown  sin  of  his,  if  in- 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  45 

deed  he  is  guilty,  a  sin  which  at  the  worst 
is  so  venial  that  forgiveness  may  be  sought 
almost  as  a  right,  should  be  pursued  relent- 
lessly, like  a  heinous  crime,  down  to  death. 
Then,  too,  why  will  such  a  God  give  no  ac- 
count, no  explanation,  no  standard  for  man  to 
live  by?  Bildad  says  that  nevertheless  God 
is  just ;  but  in  such  a  mystery  as  this  The  spirit  of 
where  is  justice  to  be  found?  If  ^^^^^■^«^'- 
this  is  justice,  why,  then  justice  means  God's 
arbitrary  will,  God's  infinite  caprice ;  and  the 
only  way  one  can  recognize  justice  is  by  noting 
which  way  God's  favor  happens  to  set.  No 
man  can  maintain  his  ways  before  such  a  tri- 
bunal. Let  him  have  never  so  righteous  a 
cause,  it  is  but  the  turn  of  a  hand  for  God  to 
prove  him  perverse.  Nay,  and  into  what 
hideous  confusion  does  such  a  government 
throw  the  whole  world  !  No  resource  left  for 
what  has  been  called  righteousness  ;  the  bounds 
of  good  and  evil,  of  right  and  duty,  are  wholly 
obliterated.  With  such  a  state  of  things  Job 
will  not  have  alliance.  Thus,  in  re-  joPsevr- 
cording  his  protest  against  a  world  ^'''^'"s  no. 
so    governed,  he  reaches  his  everlasting  No.^ 

^  The  expression  is  adopted  from  Carlyle,  whose  chapter 
on  The  Everlasting  No,  xnSai'tor  Resartus  (Book  ii.,  chapter 
vii.),  reproduces  with  remarkable  vigor  the  spirit  of  Job's  pro- 
test.   In  both  Carlyle  and  Job  we  trace  the  same  fearlessness 


46  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  tremendous  energy 
To  which  of  Job's  arraignment  of  God,  as  it  is 
'i-!>i7orre-  givcn  in  the  ninth  chapter.  The 
sponds.  whole  chapter  ought  to  be  cited  to 
illustrate  it  ;  here  are  a  few  lines  :  — 

"  Is  the  question  of  strength,  —  behold,  the  Mighty  One  He  ! 

Of  judgment,  — '  Who  will  set  Me  a  day  ? ' 
3(^47!^  ^^        Were  I  righteous,  mine  own  mouth  would  con- 
demn me ; 

Perfect  were  I,  yet  would  He  prove  me  perverse. 

Perfect  I  am, —  I  value  not  my  soul  —  I  despise  my  life  — 

It  is  all  one  —  therefore  I  say, 

Perfect  and  wicked  He  consumeth  alike. 

If  the  scourge  destroyeth  suddenly, 

He  mocketh  at  the  dismay  of  the  innocent. 

The  earth  is  given  over  into  the  hands  of  the  wicked ; 

The  face  of  its  judges  He  veileth  ;  — 

If  it  is  not  He,  who  then  is  it .'' " 

Nor  does  he  stop  with  mere  censure  in  the 
third  person.     Turning  directly  to  God,  with 

of  death,  the  same  honesty  of  spirit,  the  same  remonstrance 
against  a  supposed  unrighteous  order  of  things,  though  Job's 
is  the  sweeter  and  more  temperate  spirit.  "  Thus,"  says 
Carlyle,  "had  the  Everlasting  No  pealed  authoritatively 
through  all  the  recesses  of  my  Being,  of  my  Me  ;  and  then 
was  it  that  my  whole  Me  stood  up,  in  native  God-created 
majesty,  and  with  emphasis  recorded  its  Protest.  Such  a  Pro- 
test, the  most  important  transaction  in  Life,  may  that  same 
Indignation  and  Defiance,  in  a  psychological  point  of  view,  be 
fitly  called.  The  Everlasting  No  had  said:  *  Behold,  thou 
art  fatherless,  outcast,  and  the  Universe  is  mine  (the  Devil's) ;  * 
to  which  my  whole  Me  now  made  answer  :  */am  not  thine, 
but  Free,  and  forever  hate  thee  ! ' " 


THE  INTR OD  UC TOR  V  S TUD  Y  '47 

amazing  boldness  he  brings  the  Creator  him- 
self to  that  bar  of  judgment  which  his  stand- 
ard of  justice,  his  sense  of  the  godlike,  has 
erected :  — 

"  Is  it  beseeming  to  Thee  that  Thou  shouldst  oppress  ; 

That  Thou  shouldst  despise   the  labor  of    Thy 

,        J  Section  vi. 

nanus,  73-77. 

Whilst   Thou    shinest    on  the  counsel   of    the 
wicked  ?  " 

A  sorely  bewildered  heart  it  is,  bewildered 
by  its  very  integrity,  that  speaks  through  these 
burning  words ! 

This  is  the  passage,  in  especial,  that  com- 
mentators have  referred  to,  when,  tak- 

r^      M  T  Are  Job's 

ing  exception  to  Gods  own  dictum,  words i>ias- 

••11  T    1         T  1     phemous. 

they  have  maintained  that  Job   did 
not  always  "  speak  of  God  the  thing  that  is 
right,"    but   sometimes   what  is  wrong,  even 
blasphemous.     But    consider :    Job  is   not  ar- 
raigning that  God  who  is  recognized  as  truth 
and  holiness  ;  rather,  he  is  speaking  in  the  in- 
terests of  truth  and  holiness,  against  that  con- 
ventional God  whom  his  friends  have  created 
before  his  eyes  out  of  their  arid  theologies,  the 
God  who  by  His  own  confession  has  see section 
been  "  moved  against  Job  to  destroy  '•  ^°^' 
him  causelessly,"  and  of  whose  mysterious  vis- 
itation, whatever  its  purpose,  no  man  has  yet 
found  a  meaning  in  which  the  consciously  up- 


48  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

right  soul  can  rest.  It  is  the  godlike  in  Job 
rising  up  in  remonstrance  against  an  appar- 
ently misgoverned  world.  Is  it,  then,  so  far  out 
of  the  way  ? 

Prometheus,  a  god,  chained  on  Mount  Cau- 
casus, could  defy  the  rage  of  a  god 

Job  com- 

^aredivith     whosc  cumity  and  supremacy  he  was 

Prometheus.      .  .  .  ^  ..  ''_.,-'  , 

destined  to  outhve  ;  Job,  a  mortal 
ready  to  die  on  his  ash-heap,  does  not  defy, 
does  not  hate,  does  not  forswear  allegiance, 
but  sends  into  the  darkness  the  immortal  pro- 
test of  the  creature  against  what  is  ungodlike 
and  unjust.  I  confess  the  hero  of  the  old  He- 
brew epos  seems  to  me  the  sublimer  of  the  two. 
Thus,  by  the  time  two  of  the  friends  have 
spoken,  their  words,  combined  with  Job's  an- 
guish and  bitter  sense  of  wrong,  have  pressed 
from  him  his  remonstrance  against  w4iat  he 
must  recognize  as  the  unjust  order  of  things. 
As  yet  he  has  not  called  in  question  the  truth 
Job's  eves  ^^  what  they  say.  But  when  the  third 
/rkndl'er^  frlcnd,  Zophar,  follows  in  the  same 
''''''■  hard  strain,  with  his  angry  rebuke  of 

Job  for  daring  to  call  himself  pure,  and  for  pre- 
suming to  pry  into  the  secret  of  God,  Job's 
eyes  are  suddenly  opened.  He  begins  to  see 
that  they  do  not  know  everything  after  all ; 
that,  in  fact,  their  spiritual  insight  is  no  more 
to  be  trusted  than  his  own  :  — 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  40 

a 

"  Of  a  truth,  ye  are  the  people, 
And  wisdom  will  die  with  you !  ^j^l^'"*"  ""'"'^^  ' 

I  also  have  understanding,  as  well  as  you  ; 
I  am  not  inferior  to  you ; 
And  who  knoweth  not  things  like  these  ?  " 

What  is  true  in  their  argument  is  not  new  ; 
the  "things  Uke  these"  are  the  long-estab- 
lished commonplaces  of  doctrine.  That  the 
whole  world  is  God's  handiwork  ;  that  when  ■ 
He  doeth  there  is  no  undoing ;  that  He  deals 
with  righteous  and  sinful,  with  wise  and  fool- 
ish, with  individual  and  nation,  just  as  He  will, 
—  these  things  none  will  question.  Accord- 
ingly, his  first  answer  to  them,  after  section  viu. 
hearing  what  all  have  to  say,  is  to  re-  ^^'■^^' 
capitulate  and  indorse  their  general  position, 
summing  up  with  these  words  :  — 

"  Behold,  all  this  hath  mine  eye  seen  ; 
Mine  ear  hath  heard  and  understood  it  well.        f^'J^^^  ^»^*- 
What  ye  know,  that  know  I  also  ; 
I  am  not  inferior  to  you." 

But  all  this  has  failed  to  touch  his  real  issue 
with  them.     In  spite  of  the  abstract    what  the 
correctness  of  their  doctrine,  they  are  r^r^Iv.^  ^'^ 
wholly  wrong. 

"  But  ye  too,  —  forgers  of  lies  are  ye  ;  Section  viii. 

Patchers-up  of  nothings  are  ye  all."  5Q,  60, 

For  as  he  sees  them  maintaining  God's  jus- 
tice through  thick  and  thin,  and  denying  Job's 
righteousness  in  order  to  do  it,  the  thought 


50  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

flashes  upon  him  that  their  term  righteousness 
is  merely  a  conventional  name  for  tJie  winning 
side  ;  they  are  calling  his  transparent  integrity 
sin,  not  because  what  is  righteous  in  their  na- 
ture compels  them  to  see  it  so,  but  because, 
forsooth,  he  is  a  leper.  They  have  found  out 
by  this  affliction  which  way  God's  favor  seems 
to  point,  and  they  are  hastening  to  ally  them- 
selves with  it  and  be  safe.  Such  a  selfish  use 
of  God  rouses  Job's  soul  to  stinging  rebuke  :  — 

*'  Hear  ye  now  my  rebuke, 
gc^/<7«  via.        ^^^  j-'g^gj^  tQ  ^j^g  charges  of  my  lips  : 

Will  ye  speak  what  is  wrong,  for  God  } 
And  will  ye,  for  Him,  utter  deceit  ,-* 
Will  ye  respect  His  person, 
Or  will  ye  be  special  pleaders  for  God  ? 
Would  it  be  well,  if  He  should  search  you  out } 
Or  will  ye  mock  Him,  as  man  mocketh  man  ? 
He  will  surely  convict  you  utterly, 
If  in  secret  ye  are  respecters  of  persons. 
Shall  not  His  majesty  make  you  afraid, 
And  the  dread  of  Him  fall  upon  you  ?  ^ 
Your  wise  maxims  are  proverbs  of  ashes ; 
Your  bulwarks  turn  to  bulwarks  of  clay." 

Thus,  piercing  by  the  insight  of  truth  to  the 
joPs  break    hcart   of   his  friends'  life,   Job   finds 

"With  his 

friends.  that  thcy  are  not  serving  God  for 
nought ;  they  are  shrewdly  calculating  where 

1  "  There  is  nothing  good  that  is  not  entirely  honest.  Bet- 
ter for  a  man  that  all  the  world  should  grin  at  him  for  ever, 
than  that,  failing  in  honesty,  God  should  laugh  him  to  scorn 
but  only  once."  {'i^Wvck,  Ethics  and  Msthetics  of  Modern 
Poetry,  p.  87.) 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  5  I 

the  chances  of  reward  and  prosperity  lie,  and 
shaping  their  views  of  right  and  wrong  accord- 
ingly. This  is  enough  ;  no  more  alliance  with 
them.  From  this  point  onward  Job's  attitude 
towards  his  friends  is  changed.  He  no  longer 
regards  them  as  wise,  nor  does  he  let  any  more 
words  of  theirs  go  unquestioned.  Henceforth 
he  regards  them  as  spiritually  blind,  — 

"  For  their  heart  hast  Thou  hid  from  understand-    Section  x. 
ing,"-  ^7- 

and  treats  them  with  the  scorn  due  to  those 
whose  pretensions  have  far  outrun  their  wis- 
dom :  — 

"But  you  —  all  of  you  —  return  ye!  and  come     „     . 

,  Section  X. 

now !  69, 70. 

For  I  shall  not  find  a  wise  man  among  you." 

He  can  no  more  look  for  help  from  friends  ;' 
the  question  lies  henceforth  between  his  soul 
and  God. 

Nor  has  this  encounter  with  the  selfishness 
of  his  friends  left  Job  the  man  he  was.  ^^^.^  ^^^^. 
It  has  carried  him  over  from  the  ever-  ^"^'^'"'^  ^'^'^^ 
lasting  No  to  the  everlasting  Yea.  Farewell, 
now,  fear  and  complaining ;  farewell  trust  in 
the  outworn  maxims  of  men  :  face  to  face  with 
death  and  the  worst  that  his  unseen  enemy 
can  do,  Job  turns  solemnly  from  his  fellows, 
and  commits  himself  anew  to  the  righteous- 
ness that  has  hitherto  been  his  life,  in  supreme 


52  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

faith  that  its  issue,  though  at  present  he  sees 
it  not,  must  be  salvation  :  — 

"Be  silent ;  let  me  alone  ;  and  speak  will  I, 
fj-sl^  """*        Let  come  upon  me  what  will. 

"Wherefore  do  I  take  my  flesh  in  my  teeth, 
And  put  my  life  in  my  hand  ? 
Behold  —  He  may  slay  me  ;  I  may  not  hope ; 
But  my  ways  will  I  maintain  to  His  face.i 
Nay,  that  shall  be  to  me  also  for  salvation, 
For  no  false  one  shall  come  into  His  presence." 

It  is  an  appeal  from  the  God  who  works  in  the 
impenetrable  darkness  without  to  the  God  who 
has  put  holy  impulses  within,  and  a  trust  in 
Compare  I  ^he  guidauce  of  that  honest  human 
John  in.  21.   j^g^j.^  ^j^j^^  ''condemns  him  not." 

"  Hear,  oh  hear  my  speech, 
83-83!^  ^'"       -^"^  ^^^  '"'^y  declaration  sound  in  j'our  ears. 
Behold,  now  have  I  set  in  order  my  cause  ; 
I  know  that  I  shall  be  justified." 

1  To  maintain  his  ways,  to  be  true  in  the  face  of  God  and 
the  iron  universe  to  that  perfect  and  upright  ideal  which  has 
hitherto  shaped  his  life,  is  in  Job's  soul  the  supreme  impera- 
tive, compared  with  which  the  desire  for  restored  health  and 
property  or  any  earthly  happiness  never  once  comes  to  men- 
tion. "  There  is  in  man  a  Higher  than  Love  of  Happiness  : 
he  can  do  without  Happiness,  and  instead  thereof  find  Bless- 
edness !  Was  it  not  to  preach  forth  this  same  Higher  that 
sages  and  martyrs,  the  Poet  and  the  Priest,  in  all  times,  have 
spoken  and  suffered ;  bearing  testimony,  through  life  and 
through  death,  of  the  Godlike  that  is  in  Man,  and  how  in  the 
Godlike  only  has  he  Strength  and  Freedom  }  .  .  .  Love  not 
Pleasure ;  love  God.  This  is  the  Everlasting  Yea,  wherein 
all  contradiction  is  solved :  wherein  whoso  walks  and  works 
it  is  well  with  him."  (Carlyle,  Sartor  Resartus,  B.  ii.,  chap,  ix.) 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 


53 


This  declaration  we  may  regard  as  the  bed- 
rock, so  to  say,  of  the  Book  of  Job.  To  appre- 
ciate what  it  means  for  Job  to  make  it,  reflect 
that  the  wisdom  of  man,  the  testimony  of  the 
past,  the  utterance  of  trusted  friends,  have  all 
raised  their  voice  in  unison  with  a  mysterious 
visitation  of  God  to  declare  the  contrary.  Job 
is  launching  out  into  the  darkness  alone,  stak- 
ing life  and  destiny  on  the  belief  that  the  pow- 
ers that  work  unseen,  in  spite  of  inexorable 
appearances,  are  for  righteousness. 

Doth  Job  fear  God  for  nought  }     The  sneer 
of  Satan  is  more  than  answered. 

But  having  traced  the  progress  of  Job's  soul 
to  this  point,  let  us  be  clearly  aware  Estimate  o/ 
what  is  done,  what  remains.  And,  in  '^gfesJ'Zs 
fact,  we  find  that  he  still  has,  as  ■^''''" 
Browning  expresses  it,  "  all  to  traverse  'twixt 
hope  and  despair."  The  achievement  j^j^^^iy  ^^. 
that  we  have  noted  thus  far  has  been  "'^^^^• 
mainly  negative.  By  remonstrance  against  an 
arbitrary  God,  and  by  reaction  against  the  self- 
seeking  theology  of  his  friends,  he  has  reached 
a  landing-place  where  he  can  say,  "  I  know 
that  I  shall  be  justified."  That  is  much  to 
say  ;  but  how  or  when  }  His  suffering  remains 
a  fact,  all  too  palpable  ;  he  is  at  the  gates  of 
death,  with  no  outlook  ;  and  all  his  importu- 
nate demand  for  explanation  of  the  mystery  is 


54  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

but  "  shouting  question  after  question  into  the 
Sybil-cave  of  destiny,  and  receiving  no  answer 
but  an  echo."  Where  shall  he  find  some  poii 
sto  whereon  to  lift  the  weary  weight  of  the 
problem  that  presses  upon  him  ? 

To  see  how,  even  along  with  his  negative 
remonstrances,  he  has  been  taking  steps  to- 
ward evolving  a  positive  solution,  let  us  turn 
back  a  little  and  trace  some  elements  of  the 
poem  hitherto  unmentioned. 

The  problem  all  comes  from  his  absorbing 
Basis  of  a  qucst  for  that  divine  presence  and 
{Ton  of  its'"  communion  from  which  this  affliction 
problem.  j^^g  sccmcd  to  shut  him  out.  "  But 
I,  —  to  the  Almighty  would  I  speak,  —  I  long 
to  make  plea  unto  God,"  is  the  constant  bur- 
den of  his  desire.  Two  questions  there  are,  to 
which  his  mind  turns  and  returns  with  perti- 
nacious inquiry,  and  whose  answer  he  must  in 
some  way  find,  on  his  soul's  way  to  God  and 
hght.  In  his  musings  on  these  questions  we 
may  trace  what  may  be  called  Job's  positive 
achievements  in  faith,  his  impetuous  efforts  to 
enter  the  darkness  that  closes  him  round  and 
create  what  he  sees  ought  to  be.  This  part  of 
the  action  constitutes  its  most  remarkable  and 
significant  feature ;  it  admits  us,  as  it  were, 
behind  the  veil  of  God's  world-plan,  where  we 
get  a  glimpse  of   revelation   in   the   making. 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  55 

And  we  see  therein  the  part  that  man  plays, 
as  co-worker  with  God  ;  for  what  the  book  be- 
fore us  reveals  of  unseen  things  comes  not 
through  the  whirlwind  ;  it  reaches  us  by  way 
of  that  darkened  yet  loyal  and  yearning  heart 
of  Job. 

The  first  question  —  implicit,  of  course  —  is, 
How  to  bridge  the  chasm  that  has 

/^  ■»     TIte  question 

opened  between  his  soul   and    God?  howtoap- 

,  proach  God. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  affliction 
this  question  has  presented  itself  in  various 
forms  until  it  has  become  agonizing.  God  has 
fenced  up  his  way,  that  he  cannot  pass.  To 
his  frantic  inquiries  why  he  is  afflicted,  God 
vouchsafes  no  answer.  Then  the  friends,  fail- 
ing him  as  comforters,  go  on  portraying  a  God 
who  is  a  grotesque  projection  of  their  own 
hard  selves,  a  Being  throned  above  all  judg- 
ment, all  defense  of  the  creature  ;  until  Job  is 
constrained  to  raise  against  such  a  conception 
his  everlasting  No.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  this 
protest  that  constructive  faith  begins  to  image 
a  solution,  —  negative  at  first,  fond  dwelling  of 
fancy  on  a  state  of  things  that  he  must  confess 
is  not,  but  how  good  if  it  were.  It  is  the  idea 
of  a  Daysman  between  him  and  God,  who  could 
represent  the  cause  of  both. 

*'  For  He  is  not  a  man,  like  me,  that  I  should  answer  Him, 
That  we  should  come  together  in  judgment; 


56  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

Nor  is  there  any  Daysman  between  us, 
Section  vi.      Who  might  lay  his  hand  on  both  of  us  ; 
b2-bq.  Who  might  remove  His  rod  from  upon  me, 

That  the  dread  of  Him  should  not  unman  me. 

Then  would  I  speak,  and  would  not  fear  Him; 

For  as  I  am  now,  I  am  not  myself." 

How  necessary  he  considers  to  be  the  office 
that  a  Daysman  should  fulfill  is  seen  in  the 
request  that  he  urges,  as  soon  as  his  solemn 
committal  to  his  righteousness  brings  him  to  a 
point  where,  having  **set  in  order  his  cause," 
he  can  address  himself  definitively  to  God  :  — 

"  Only  these  two  things  do  not  Thou  unto  me,  — 
Section  viii.     Then  will  I  not  hide  myself  from  Thy  face  ;  — 
97-96.  Remove  Thou  Thy  hand  from  upon  me, 

And  let  not  Thy  terror  unman  me  ; 
Then  call  Thou,  and  I  will  answer  Thee, 
Or  I  will  speak,  and  return  Thou  answer  to  me." 

Here  is  the  need,  the  feeling  of  which  has 
evidently  sunk  deep  into  Job's  heart.  If  only 
there  were  in  God  something  like  man  to  ap- 
peal to ! 

The  second  question,  or  questioning,  centres 
Theques-  ^bout  thc  cuigma  of  death.  Like 
tionof death,  ^^ny  a  perplexed  soul  after  him,  Job 
has  to  beat  his  wings  against  the  barriers  of 
the  grave.  Even  if  he  were  a  transgressor, 
the  mystery  is  that  God  will  not  "  look  away 
from  him,"  will  not  forgive  his  sins  and  leave 
him  alone.    Why  pursue  him  so  cruelly,  if  he  is 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 


57 


destined  so  soon  to  drop  into  "the  jaws  of 
vacant  darkness  and  to  cease  ?  "  In  this  very 
fact  that  God  watches  and  judges  such  a 
"  driven  leaf  "  as  man,  and  pursues  him  out  of 
the  world,  there  is  a  strange  inconsistency. 
The  care  seems  so  out  of  proportion  to  the 
object ;  it  is  like  bending  all  the  forces  of  the 
universe  to  pick  up  a  straw.  Who  shall  solve 
such  a  discrepancy  ?  Yet  stay ;  here  is  what 
would  be  a  solution,  if  it  were  only  true,  which, 
alas,  he  cannot  say :  suppose  man  should  live 
again  after  death,  as  the  tree  that  is  cut  down 
sprouts  anew  ! 

"  Oh  that  Thou  wouldst  hide  me  in  the  grave, 
Wouldst  keep  me  secret  till  Thy  wrath  is  past,    Section  vUL 
Wouldst  set  me  a  time,  and  remember  me  !  ^37-^44- 

If  a  man  die  —  might  he  live  again  ? 
All  the  days  of  my  service  would  I  wait, 
Until  my  renewal  came  ; 
Thou  wouldst  call,  and  I  would  answer ; 
Thou  wouldst  yearn  after  the  work  of  Thy  hands  !  " 

This  solution,  like  the  other,  is  suggested  only 
negatively,  only  as  a  radiant  fancy,  at  first ;  but 
both  are  germinating  seeds,  and  when  we  meet 
them  again  they  will  have  grown,  by  a  kind  of 
unconscious  cerebration  on  Job's  part,  into 
greater  things. 

So  much  has  Job  achieved,  in  protesting  and 
creating,  by  the  time  the  three  friends  have 


58  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

spoken  once.  They  are  of  course  moved  to 
Summary  ^nswcr  ;  but  it  makcs  little  difference 
awSSf  now  what  they  say.  It  is  not  so  cer- 
%%tioft  tain  to  Job  as  it  once  was  that  they 
have  the  secret  of  wisdom.  Until 
they  all  have  spoken  again,  he  does  not  address 
himself  to  their  arguments  at  all,  being  en- 
gaged in  exploring  the  new  region  that  his 
questioning  and  his  faith  have  opened.  Let 
us  first  follow  him. 

Ehphaz  having  spoken  a  second  time.  Job, 
Examina-  stoppiug  for  ouly  a  word  in  scorn  of 
*worfs?of>'  his  unavailing  speech,  turns  to  the 
ttnued.  ever-present  subject  of  his  affliction. 
So  severe,  so  pitiless,  so  inveterate  is  his  an- 
guish, that  he  can  only  count  its  inflicter  as 
his  enemy ;  and  that  enemy  he  can  do  no 
other  than  identify  with  God.  He  seems  to 
tax  the  power  of  language  to  its  utmost  to 
Job's  faith  portray  the  deadly  conflict  that  God 
'SoZ::n  is  waging  with  him.  Yet,  by  a 
^"^^'  strange  antinomy,  he  draws  steadily 

nearer  to  God  for  refuge.  The  very  whirl- 
wind and  tempest  of  his  remonstrance  seems 
only  to  lay  bare  more  and  more  the  inner 
deeps  of  his  essential  godliness.  Nay,  he 
seems  almost  to  divide  God  against  Himself, 
to  set  God  the  Advocate  over  against  God  the 
Chastiser,  in  his  eager  confidence  that  his  hu- 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  59 

man  ideals  and  affections  must  be  represented 
on  High,  and  that  he  must  have  a  Friend  who 
is  the  friend  of  righteousness. 

"  Earth,  cover  not  thou  my  blood, 
And  let  my  cry  have  no  resting-place  !  Section  x. 

Even  now,  behold,  in  heaven  is  my  Witness,    41-4^- 
And  mine  Advocate  is  on  high. 
My  friends  are  my  scorners. 
But  unto  God  mine  eye  poureth  tears. 
That  He  would  plead  for  man  with  God, 
As  the  son  of  man  for  his  neighbor." 

Is  not  this  the  Daysman,  whom  Job  was  so  de- 
spairingly dreaming  of  a  little  while   see  section 
ago,  now  no  longer  in  fancy  but  in  full   '"'"  ^''" 
assurance  }     Job  has  advanced  from  despair  to 
confidence  ;  he  has  a  representative  on  high. 

But  that  equally  obtrusive  fact  of  death  re- 
curs :  here  he  stands,  with  an  Advo- 
cate in  heaven,   but  with   his    life's  rin/tk^I'^hi 
plans    broken   off    and    the    eternal 
darkness  at  hand. 


of  death. 


"  If  I  have  any  hope,  the  grave  is  my  house  ; 

I  have  spread  out  my  bed  in  the  darkness  ;  Sf '^ ''' 

To  corruption  I  have  said,  '  My  father  thou ! ' 
*  My  mother,  and  my  sister  ! '  —  to  the  worm. 

And  where  is  now  my  hope  ? 

Yea,  my  hope  —  who  shall  discover  it  "i 

Will  the  bars  of  Sheol  fall  down, 

When  together  there  is  rest  in  the  dust?  " 

Here  he  pauses  while  Bildad  makes  his  second 


6o  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

speech  ;  and  then,  with  the  recurring  thought 
Section  xii.  ^^  God's  cnuiity,  comes  upon  him*  the 
J2-4I.  crushing  consciousness  that  his  soul 

is  alone,  alone  in  the  ruins  of  a  life ;  friends, 
brethren,  wife,  kinsfolk,  servants,  all  have  for- 
saken him.  One  despairing  cry  he  sends 
forth,  — 

"  Have  pity  on  me,  have  pity  on  me,  O  ye  my 
Section  xii.  ^^-^^^ 

<Pi  43-  ' 

For  the  hand  of  God  hath  touched  me !  " 

and  then  all  at  once  he  breaks  out  into  that 
avowal  which  for  all  the  ages  since  has  re- 
mained the  supreme  utterance  of  the 
deemerpas-  Book  of  Job,  whlch  gathcrs  into  one 
mighty  assurance  the  solution  of  all 
his  problems,  the  final  reach  of  his  aspiring 
faith,  revealing  in  one  view  the  Advocate  on 
high,  the  vindication  beyond  death,  God  his 
restored  friend,  —  and  binding  all  together 
with  the  exultant  word,  I  know. 

"  Oh  that  now  my  words  were  written ! 
Secjion  xii.        qj^  ^j^^^  ^j^^y  ^^^^^  inscribed  in  a  book  I 

That,  with  iron  pen,  and  with  lead, 
They  were  graven  in  the  rock,  for  ever ! 

I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth  ; 
That  He  shall  stand,  survivor,  over  the  dust; 
And  after  my  skin  is  gone,  they  will  rend  this  body, 
And  I,  from  my  flesh,  shall  see  God. 
Whom  I  shall  see,  I,  for  myself ; 
Whom  mine  eyes  shall  behold,  a  stranger  no  more. 
For  this  my  reins  consume  within  me !  " 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  6 1 

As  helping  on  toward  this  supreme  landing- 
place  of  Job's  faith,  consider  what  a  j^j^^  -^^^  . 
part  the  idea  of  friendship  has  played.  -^[J'tlfBook 
It  is  one  of  the  leading,  though  less  ''■^'^°^' 
obtrusive,  motifs  of  the  poem.  Just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  friends  failed  him, — as  they  be- 
came deceitful  like  a  dried-up  brook,  as  they 
would  not  turn  back  and  acknowledge  his  in- 
tegrity as  it  was,  as  they  turned  from  compan- 
ions to  scorners,  as  they  persecuted  him  like 
gods,  — just  in  that  proportion,  along  with  his 
faith  in  the  triumph  of  righteousness.  Job's 
faith  images  also  a  triumph  of  love,  a  finding 
of  divine  friendship,  until  one  strong  element 
of  this  last  declaration  is  his  assertion  that 
some  time  God  will  be  "a  stranger  no  more." 
It  exemplifies  Tennyson's  description,  in  "The 
Two  Voices,"  of , man  struggling  through  dark- 
ness to  find  the  meaning  of  his  mysterious  en- 
dowments :  — 


Tennyson, 


He  seems  to  hear  a  Heavenly  Friend, 

And  thro  thick  veils  to  apprehend  The  Two 

A  labor  working  to  an  end."  Voices. 


The  Struggle  is  over.     From  this  point  on- 
ward Job  no  more  inquires  into  God's  How  much 

ts  settled  by 

mysterious   enmity  and    remoteness,   Job's  know- 

•'         ^  -^  ^  ledge  of  a 

nor    into   the    unsolved    enigma    of  Redeemer. 
death.       He   has    laid  up   these  questions   in 


62  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

that  future  where  hfe's  problems  are  all  an- 
swered.^ 

But  there  remains  the  present   world,  the 
world  that  all  our  experiences  move 

Return  to         ,  •    ,      •  ,        .  - 

the  friends'    m,  With  its  pcrplexmg  facts  ;  and  the 
friends  in  the  meanwhile  are  saying 
about  it  things  that  demand  reply.     Let  us  re- 
turn to  them. 

They  are  naturally  enough  angered  at  being 
treated   as    spiritually  blind,  and    at 

See,  for  ex-    ,  .  ,       .  . 

ample,  sec-  havmg  thcir  wise  maxims  contemned. 
On  their  side,  too,  they  regard  Job's 
words,  so  daring  in  remonstrance,  so  importu- 
nate in  inquiry,  as  exceedingly  dangerous,  irrev- 
erent, blasphemous.     "  Nay,"  says  Eliphaz,  — 

"Nay,  and  thou  bringest  piety  to  nought, 
Section  ix.         p^^^  lessenest  devotion  before  God  ; 

For  thine  iniquity  teacheth  thy  mouth, 
And  thou  choosest  the  tongue  of  the  crafty. 
Thine  own  mouth  condemneth  thee,  and  not  I ; 
And  thy  lips  testify  against  thee." 

Their  anger  against  Job,  together  with  their 

1  Surprise  has  often  been  expressed  that  Job,  having 
reached  such  prophetic  certitude  of  blessedness  beyond  this 
life,  does  not  make  more  of  the  idea  in  his  succeeding  argu- 
ment. I  think  it  is  to  be  explained  partly  on  the  ground  that 
this  is  an  idea  not  argued  out  but  believed  in,  and  partly 
because  Job  goes  on  to  other  things  not  requiring  such  a 
solution.  And  so  much  may  be  said  for  the  potency  of  the 
Redeemer  idea,  that  from  this  point  the  doubts  that  have 
hitherto  oppressed  him  absolutely  disappear. 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  6^ 

reactionary  impulse  to  put  their  arguments  in 
the  directest   contrast   to  him,  leads 

.  ^  .     Namely,    in 

them,    m     this      second    round     of  sections  ix.,^ 

xi,,andxiii, 

speeches,  mto  mtemperate,  unconsid- 
ered language.  However  his  piety  may  seem 
to  be  tottering  to  its  fall,  they  will  declare 
against  wickedness  so  that  none  can  misunder- 
stand or  misinterpret  their  position  with  refer- 
ence to  it.  In  the  lurid  pictures  that  all  in 
turn  give  of  the  awful  fate  of  the  wicked,  it 
seems  to  me  the  writer's  obvious  intention  to 
make  the  friends  overreach  themselves  by  as- 
sertions which,  though  not  without  a  nucleus 
of  truth,  are  so  exaggerated  as  to  be  gro- 
tesquely false  to  observed  facts.  Their  posi- 
tion amounts  to  willful  denial  of  what,  if  they 
will  but  open  their  eyes,  they  cannot  but 
see. 

As  in  his  first  answer  to  them.  Job  waits  till 
all  have  spoken,  and  he  has  drawn  y^y,^^. 
their  fire,  so  to  speak;  then  he  turns  ZZn^lir 
upon  them.  Not  in  anger,  —  the  WZltaion 
problem  is  too  awful  for  that,  —  but  ■^'^" 
in  shuddering  amazement;  Job  portrays  to  his 
friends  what  indeed  is  palpable  to  every  one 
who  will  be  honest  with  himself  and  the  world  : 
the  wicked  prospering,  becoming  old,  and  dy- 
ing in  peace,  apparently  just  as  secure  and 
just  as  favored  as  the  righteous. 


64  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

"  They  fill  out  their  days  in  weal ; 

Section  xiv.       -^"^  i"  ^  moment  they  sink  down  to  the  grave. 

24-2q.  And  yet  they  said  unto  God,  '  Depart  from  us  ; 

The  knowledge  of  Thy  ways  we  desire  not. 

What  is  the  Almighty,  that  we  should  serve  Him  ? 

And  what  gain  we,  if  we  pray  to  Him  ? '  " 

Nor  does  he  own  this  because  he  indines  to 
their  ways :  — 

Section  xiv.     "  Behold  not  in  their  hand  is  their  weal ; 
30, 31.  T\iQ  counsel  of  the  wicked  —  be  it  far  from 

me!" 

it  is  mere  honesty  to  facts  that  compels  the 
confession.  The  friends  have  let  their  im- 
agination riot  in  terrific  descriptions  of  the 
death  of  the  wicked,  and  of  the  perpetual  fear 
that  paralyzes  their  lives,  in  contrast  to  the 
tranquil  security  of  the  righteous ;  but  to  Job 
it  is  the  absolute  equality  of  righteous  and 
wicked  before  God,  so  far  as  this  life  reveals, 
that  is  so  inexplicable  :  — 

"  Shall  any  teach  knowledge  unto  God,  — 
Section  xiv.        Him  — who  judgeth  them  that  are  high  ? 
43-52'  One  dieth  in  the  fullness  of  his  strength, 

All  at  ease  and  quiet,  — 

His  vessels  full  of  milk. 

And  the  marrow  of  his  bones  well  moistened ; 

And  another  dieth  with  a  bitter  soul, 

And  hath  never  tasted  of  good. 

Together  they  lie  down,  in  the  dust, 

And  the  worm  spreadeth  a  covering  over  them." 

This  is  his  answer  to  them,  in  which  he  shows 
them  how  entirely  a  figment  of  the  mind  is 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  65 

their  theory.  So  strongly  has  this  view  seized 
upon  his  soul  that,  stopping  for  only  a  partial 
reply  to  Eliphaz's  third  speech,  he  goes  on  to 
give,  in  calmer  mood,  a  detailed  pic- 

T  1       Namely,  in 

ture  of  what  he  has  already  outlined,   sectio7ixvi. 

34-gi. 
the  world   apparently  void  of  divine 

judgment,  and  filled  with  a  perfect  impunity 

of    lawless    wickedness,  —  a    picture    whose 

truthfulness  he  seals  with  a  challenge, — 

"  If  it  be  not  so,  who  then  will  prove  me  false,        Section  xvL 
And  make  my  words  come  to  nought  ?  "  9^'  9j- 

Eliphaz's   third   speech,  which  is   a  kind  of 
Parthian    shot,    betrays    the   natural 

Eliphaz's 

irritation   due   to  the   consciousness  thirdspeech, 

.  ,        .  ,  ,  ,       section  XV. 

that  he  is  employing  the  last  weak 
runnings   of  his  argument.      He   accuses  Job 
directly  of  various   sins   such  as  are 

,  ,   .  .  .    .  .         L  ines  8-27. 

natural    to    his    eminent   position    m 

life,  sins  which  Eliphaz  has  not  discovered  as 

a  fact,  but  deduced  from  Job's  condition  ;  then 

he  censures  Job's  avowal  of  the  evils 

in   the  world,  as  indicating  a  secret     "'^^^  ^^' 

hankering  after  wicked  ways,  —  as  if  in  order 

to  keep  one's  self  from  evil  one  must  deny  its 

existence.    In  these  considerations  the  friends' 

argument  reaches  its  reductio  ad  ab- 

siirdum.    Ehphaz  then  concludes  with     ''^^^'^°~^^- 

a  beautiful  exhortation  to  Job  to  remove  iniquity 


66  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

from  his  tents  and  reconcile  himself  to  God. 
This  exhortation  we  may  regard  as  the  final 
The  friends^  appeal  of  thc  focnds,  as  they  see  Job 
fi^tai  appeal,  (jj-iftcd  SO  far  from  them.  Nor  does 
it  go  unanswered.  To  the  charge  of  sin  Job 
Job's  re-  replies  later ;  but  this  exhortation 
sponse.  elicits  an  immediate  answer,  in  which 

he  gives  utterance  once  for  all  to  his  unchange- 
able attitude  before  God  :  — 

"  Oh  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  Him  !  — 
Section  XV i.        Might  come  even  unto  His  dwelling-place  ! 
4-13-  I  would  set  in  order  my  cause  before  Him ; 

And  I  would  fill  my  mouth  with  arguments. 

I  would  know  the  words  He  would  answer  me  ; 

And  I  would  mark  what  He  would  say  unto  me. 

Would  He  plead  against  me  in  the  greatness  of  His  might  ? 

Nay ;  but  surely  He  would  give  heed  unto  me. 

There  it  would  be  an  upright  man  pleading  with  Him, 

And  I  should  be  delivered  for  ever  from  my  Judge." 

The  calm  height  to  which  his  faith  by  this 

time  has  led  him  is  suggestively  indi- 

has  ad-         cated  in  the  way  in  which  he  confronts 

vanced.  .  , 

agam  that  old  problem,  once  so  dis- 
turbing, of  God's  hidden  face  and  refusal  to  be 
found.  Now  it  hardly  moves  him,  while  he 
can  say,  — 

_    ^.  .     **  For  He  knovveth  the  way  that  is  mine  : 

ejection  XVI.  ^ 

j8,  ig.  He  is  trying  me  ;  I  shall  come  forth  as  gold." 

The  lesson  of  the  disciplinary  value  of  God's 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  6/ 

chastisements  is  generally  regarded  as  Elihu's 
contribution  to  the  question  :  does  Elihu  reach 
a  point  higher  than  this  ? 

I  called  Eliphaz's  exhortation  the  friends* 
final  appeal.      Bildad  indeed  speaks 

-  ,  ,  ^    .  Bildad's 

once  more  ;  but  what   he    says   is   a  third  speech, 

1  r  •  r     1     r  tt«       r  section  xvii. 

Virtual  confession  of  defeat.  His  tew 
words  are  a  feeble  echo  of  Eliphaz's  favorite 
doctrine  of  man's  innate  depravity,  the  doctrine 
that  dies  hardest,  so  to  say ;  but  so  manifestly 
aside  from  the  present  case  that  Job  ridicules 
them  in  unmeasured  terms:  — 

"  How  hast  thou  given  help  to  the  powerless  !    Job's  an- 
How  succored  the  nerveless  arm  !  ^tion'xviU. 

How  hast  thou  counseled  the  unwise,  ^7- 

And  made  known  truth  in  abundance  ! 
To  whom  directest  thou  words  ? 
And  whose  breath  goeth  forth  from  thee  ?  "  — 

and  then  in  turn  carries  on  the  same  strain  at 
some  length,  as  if  to  show  how  easy  j,^  section 
it  is  to  compose  sublime  —  yet  inap-  ■^^"''  ^~^^' 
pHcable  —  descriptions  of  God's  power.  To 
take  this  view  of  the  passage  need  not  belittle 
the  utterances  of  either  Job  or  Bildad,  which 
as  matter  of  fact  are  true  and  full  of  eloquent 
beauty  ;  it  merely  reveals  by  a  striking  illus- 
tration how  entirely  the  friends  have  mistaken 
the  issue. 

Zophar  fails    to   appear  the  third  time.     Is 


68  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

he  needed  ?     Have  we  not  reached  the  friends' 
zophar  does  natural  stopping-place  ? 

not  speak  a  ^  .  ^  ,       . 

third  time.         So  JoD  IS  left  alonc  and  victorious. 
What  now   remains  ?      He  has  com- 

yob  cofitin-  .  1    -I  •  r  11'  1         •  r 

ueshisdis-  mitted  life  and  destiny  to  the  issue  of 
righteousness  ;  he  has  gazed  unflinch- 
ingly into  this  present  evil  world,  and  blinked 
none  of  its  evils  ;  he  has  by  a  creative  faith 
made  triumphant  discoveries  in  the  world  above 
and  beyond.  What  has  he  yet  to  do  ? 
^f'th^p^es-     Evidently  to  fit  himself,  so  to  speak, 

ent  world.         ,  r       i   •  n       t     -i 

into  the  sum  or  things,  to  find  by 
that  same  creative  faith  the  road  through  this 
life,  where  so  often  wickedness  gets  the  pay, 
and  goodness  the  affliction.  It  is  to  this  task, 
this  sober  survey  of  a  perplexing  world,  that 
Job  now  addresses  himself. 

He  begins  with  a  solemn  asseveration  of  his 
mental  and  spiritual  soundness  whereby  he  is 
able  to  see  things  as  they  are ;  and  anew 
he  commits  himself  unalterably  to  righteous- 
ness :  — 


"  As  God  liveth,  who  hath  taken  away  my  rir;ht, 
Section  xix.        And  the  Almighty,  who  hath  embittered   my 
^-"-  soul,  — 

For  yet  whole  is  my  breath  within  me, 

And  the  spirit  of  God  in  my  nostril,  — 

So  surely  my  lips  speak  not  perverseness, 

Nor  doth  my  tongue  murmur  deceit. 

Far  be  it  from  me  that  I  should  justify  you ; 


The  prob- 
letu  of  the 
wicked  con- 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  69 

Till  my  breath  is  gone  will  I  not  let  depart  my  integrity 

from  me. 
My  righteousness  I  hold  fast,  and  will  not  let  it  go; 
My  heart  shall  not  reproach  one  of  my  days." 

In  such  a  survey  of  the  world,  the  first 
thing  that  calls  for  solution  is  the 
problem  of  the  wicked,  who  are  so 
secure  in  this  life,  and  who  at  the  J^ril''" 
end,  in  a  ripened  old  age,  are  gath-  '^^"^■^' 
ered  in  like  all  others.  It  would  be  strange, 
after  all  the  assertions  and  denials,  if  he 
should  leave  them  without  a  final  word,  to 
clear  up  what  has  caused  him  such  trembling 
dismay.  Nor  does  he.  Here,  then,  is  the 
truth  about  them.  The  wicked,  after  all,  have 
7iot  the  ftcture ;  their  life,  not  being  founded 
on  the  truth  of  things,  cannot  count  on  hope 
or.  permanence.  They  are  not  anchored  to 
God  ;  all  is  precarious,  unsafe,  unstable.  Be- 
sides, whatever  else  they  gain,  the  blessing 
paramount,  that  which  alone,  whether  now  or 
hereafter,  gives  value  to  life,  namely,  delight  in 
God  and  sweet  dependence  on  His  will,  they 
miss  entirely ;  it  is  to  them  a  thing  non- 
existent. No  greater  woe  than  this  is  con- 
ceivable to  Job.  And  this  judgment  of  his, 
while  it  raises  spiritual  estimates  to  a  plane 
immeasurably  above  that  of  the  friends,  also 
throws  light   on   his   own  standard   of  living ; 


70  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

Job  is  unwittingly  contrasting  the  wicked  with 
himself  :  — 

"  Be  mine  enemy  as  the  wicked  man, 
Section  xix.    ^"d  he  that  riseth  against  me  as  the  unright- 
^^-^9-  eous. 

For  what  is  the  hope  of  the  godless,  when  He  cutteth  off, — 

"When  God  draweth  forth  his  soul? 

Will  God  hear  his  cry, 

When  distress  cometh  upon  him  ? 

Doth  he  delight  himself  in  the  Almighty  ? 

Doth  h^  call  upon  God  at  every  time  ?  " 

The  picture  that  Job  then  draws  of  the  wicked, 
In  section  which  some  have  tried  to  give  to 
XIX.  24-43.  Zophar,  merely  follows  this  view  into 
detail.  It  is  a  statement,  in  vivid  poetic  form, 
of  what  we  call  the  logic  of  events,  of  the  truth 
which  we  see  inlaid  in  the  history  of  all  human 
affairs,  that  whatever  does  not  make  for  right- 
eousness does  not  make  for  permanence.  Its 
drift  is  not  unlike  that  of  Bildad's  first  speech, 
of  which  Job  has  already  said,  "  Of  a  truth,  I 
know  it  is  so."  The  friends  had  a  nucleus  of 
truth ;  only  they  erred  by  overstatement  and 
by  purblind  application  ;  Job  has  found  the  key 
of  things,  and  he  follows  it  out  by  the  standard 
of  the  unseen  and  eternal. 

If,  then,  the  security  of  the  wicked  is  only 

Tke  true       3.  sccmiug,  what  is  the    reality  ?     If 

life,  °s7ction    their  course  is  folly,  what  is  the  true 

wisdom    of   life,    by   which   we   may 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  7 1 

walk  calmly   through   the   mystery   that    sur- 
rounds us,  and  solve  it  for  ourselves,  however 
baffling  the  enigma  of  the  world  ?    Here  comes 
in  the  twenty-eighth  chapter.      Is  such  a  topic 
out  of  place,  or  must  we  call  it  an  interpola- 
tion   from    the    author's    portfolio  ?  see  above. 
Rather,  it  answers  the  question  that  ^-  '^■ 
most  naturally  arises  here,  and  gives  the  prac- 
tical lesson  in  which  the  Book   of   Job  both 
begins  and  culminates.     The  hidden  wisdom, 
the  way  that  no  creature  has  found,  — 

"  God  understandeth  the  way  thereto, 
And  He  knoweth  its  place.  Section  xix. 

For  He  looketh  to  the  ends  of  the  earth ;      92-/o^- 
Under  the  whole  heaven  He  seeth. 
When  He  gave  the  wind  its  weight, 
And  meted  out  the  waters  in  a  measure,  — 
When  He  gave  a  law  to  the  rain, 
And  a  way  to  the  flash  of  .the  thunder, 
Then  did  He  see,  and  declare  it ; 
He  established  it,  yea.  He  searched  it  out. 

And  unto  man  He  said, 
Behold,  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom, 
And  to  shun  evil  is  understanding." 

Thus  Job,  the  man  perfect  and  upright,  who 
feared  God  and  shunned  evil,  has  ^^^^^^^^^ 
held  fast  to  the  integrity  with  which 
he  began,  until  he  has  not  only  answered  Sa- 
tan's question,  but  solved  for  every  man  the 
problem  of  life.  His  solution  is  not  new,  nor 
does   it    contradict    the  wise  precepts   of   the 


^2  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

friends.  And  yet  it  is  new  ;  for  it  comes  now 
^  with  a  whole  world  of  fact  and  experience  be- 
hind it,  reporting  that  in  the  most  searching 
trial  this  rule  of  life  has  stood  the  test.  To 
fear  God  and  shun  evil  is  wisdom,  in  spite  of 
the  affliction  that  righteousness  suffers,  in 
spite  of  the  prospered  wickedness  that  is  ram- 
pant in  the  world.  And  in  the  deepest  sense, 
too,  the  solution  does  contradict,  if  not  the 
friends'  words,  yet  the  friends'  whole  false  atti- 
tude toward  God  ;  for  with  Job,  to  fear  God  and 
shun  evil  is  not  to  fear  and  shun  appearances, 
or  to  trim  the  sails  according  to  the  way  in 
which  the  breeze  of  God's  favor  seems  for  the 
time  to  set  ;  it  is  to  be  true  to  the  soul's  ideal 
of  the  godlike,  in  scorn  of  consequence. 

They  say  Job  was  impatient.  If  patience 
Was  Job  ^eans  holding  one  consistent  mind 
hnpatienti  through  a  hard  experience,  and  if  pa- 
tience has  her  perfect  work  in  beheving  and 
enduring,  was  he  impatient  "t 

Having  reached  this  firm  landing-place,  with 
clear  view  of  the  way  through  this 
spect,sec.  world's  confusion,  and  with  confident 
outlook  toward  the  vindication  be- 
yond death.  Job,  as  is  natural,  takes  a  retro- 
spect of  his  former  happy  and  honored  life, 
now  so  inexplicably  plunged  into  misery.  Let 
us  bear  in  mind  that  he  still  regards  himself  as 


THE   JNTRODUCTOKY  STUDY  73 

Standing  on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  with  no 
hope  more  in  this  life.  What  he  bears  in  his 
hands  now  he  brings  to  submit  to  the  award 
of  that  Divine  Friend,  whom  he  is  to  see  here- 
after. This  fact  gives  a  new  significance  to 
these  three  beautiful  chapters  in  which  he 
brings  his  words  to  a  close.  In  them  he  gath- 
ers up  the  threads  of  his  life,  one  after  an- 
other, for  God  and  man  to  judge,  and  at  the 
end,  full  of  that  overmastering  desire  y^^,^  ^^^^^ 
for  God's  presence  which  all  along  SSX' 
has  supremely  inspired  him,  he  stands  "''^' 
ready  for  the  word  that  shall  vindicate  him  and 
make  him  blessed  :  — 

"  Behold  my  sign  !  let  the  Almighty  answer  me  !  — 
And  the  charge  that  mine  Adversary  hath  writ-    ^^^jZf^' 

ten! 
Surely  I  will  lift  it  upon  my  shoulder  ; 
I  will  bind  it  unto  me  like  a  crown ; 
I  will  declare  to  Him  the  number  of  my  steps, 
I  will  draw  near  unto  Him  like  a  prince." 

Except  half  a  dozen  lines,  which  not  improb- 
ably have  become  dislocated  in  transcription, 
these  words  are  the  last  of  Job's  stout-hearted 
defense  before  God  and  the  world.  The  tes- 
timony is  all  in ;  and  now,  as  the  veil  of  flesh 
is  ready  to  drop  away.  Job  is  fully  prepared  for 
the  unseen  meeting  beyond. 

With     Job's    words    ended,   and    with    the 
friends  put  to  silence,  evidently  at  this  point 


74  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

the  action  is  ready  for  its  denoiLement.     What 
shall  this  be  ?     If  the  poem  is  really 

The  action  /-     .    i        i  i         r  n     •  r 

ready  for  its  3,  finished  worK  of  art,  as  all  its  fea- 

denoueinefit.  r         i  •       i  • 

tures  thus  far  have  inaicated,  we  nat- 
urally expect  the  ending  to  be  directly  related 
to  the  main  issue,  and  significant  enough  to 
bring  its  deepest  elements  to  solution.  We- 
See  above  ^avc  sccu  how  sigually  this  test  fails, 
fj>.  13,14-  if  ^yg  regard  the  main  issue  as  the 
decision  of  a  debate  on  the  question  why  the 
righteous  suffer  :  the  address  from  the  whirl- 
wind, with  all  its  sublimity,  does  not  really 
touch  the  question  ;  nor  can  Elihu  be  made  to 
furnish  an  answer  without  a  great  deal  of  ac- 
commodation and  inference.  But  I  think  we 
have  become  aware  also  of  an  issue  far  deeper 
than  this,  an  issue,  not  of  words  and  reasoning, 
but  of  life.  The  controversy  of  the  friends 
with  Job  has  revealed  an  antagonism  too  deep 
and  radical  to  be  settled  by  debate  or  by  any 
verbal  decision.  The  nature  of  this  antagonism 
Satan  indicated  at  the  outset,  when  he  charged 
Job  with  serving  God  from  selfish  motives.  It 
is  the  question  of  serving  God  for  reward,  or 
serving  God  disinterestedly,  that  is  at  stake-; 
a  question  for  whose  answer  we  must  look  be- 
low words  and  forms,  into  the  deepest  currents 
of  life.  In  his  own  person  Job  has  indeed 
given  a  thorough    refutation    to  the  charge  ; 


THE   INTRO  D  UC  TOR  V  S  TUD  Y  75 

but  in  the  battle  that  he  has  had  to  wage  with 
his  friends,  he  has  dragged  to  light  one  ^ee  above, 
after  another  their  hidden  motives,  ^•^°' 
until  he  has  made  it  evident  that  they  illustrate 
just  what  Satan  sneered  at.  The  friends  are 
not  fearing  God  for  nought.  Their  whole  the- 
ory of  religion  is  based  on  the  idea  of  barter. 
So  deeply  is  this  idea  ingrained  in  their  life 
that,  as  we  have  seen,  they  have  hastened 
without  scruple  to  desert  Job  and  break  all  the 
ties  of  friendship,  in  order  to  get  on  the  fa- 
vorable side  of  God  and  keep  their  prospects 
good  ;  so  deeply  that  they  have  interpreted  the  1 
mystery  of  wickedness,  not  by  the  fact,  but  by 
what  they  think  God  would  like  them  to  say.j 
This  deep  antagonism  between  the  friends  and 
Job  has  manifested  its  effects  in  their  general 
attitude  before  God.  Job's  attitude  has  been 
emphasized  at  every  step,  —  supreme  longing 
for  the  restoration  of  God's  presence.  "  Oh 
that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  see  section 
Him  !  "  has  been  the  constant  burden  ^^'-  '^• 
of  his  cry  ;  and  beginning  with  his  despairing 
wish  for  a  Daysman,  his  creative  faith  has  kept 
on  until  he  knew  that  somewhere  beyond  this 
life  he  would  see  God  as  his  friend.  The  whole 
determination  of  his  life  is  toward  God.  The 
attitude  of  the  friends  is  no  less  evidently  the 
opposite.     They  are  orthodox  and  dogmatic  ; 


'J^  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

they  are  zealous  for  the  forms  and  decorums 
of  rehgion  ;  but  they  manifest  no  hunger  for 
direct  communion  of  spirit  with  God.  Their 
God  is  a  tradition,  their  rehgion  a  conven- 
tionahsm.  They  are  perfectly  content  with 
Teufelsdrockh's  "  absentee  God,  sitting  at  the 
outside  of  the  universe  and  seeing  it  go,"  so 
long  as  they  secure  an  honorable  and  prosper- 
ous way  through  life.  Now  what  kind 
dhwnejnent    of  a  denoiLemeut  shall  bring  such  an 

required.  .  i        •  ^        -r->» 

antagonism  as  this  to  solution  ?  Do 
we  not  naturally  look  for  some  scene  wherein 
the  two  contrasted  classes  shall  stand,  as  it 
were,  naked  before  God,  the  thoughts  of  their 
hearts  revealed,  not  judged  in  words,  but  judg- 
ing themselves  by  their  spontaneous,  uncalcu- 
lated  conduct .'' 

If  such  is  the  reasonable  expectation,  what 

could  more  fully  answer  to  it  than  the 

theopfuiny,     thcophauy  which  actually  follows  ?    It 

sections  ,  n         r       i 

xxvi.and     comes  as  a  surprise  to  all  oi  them, 

XXV Hi.,  fid-  ,  T    1        • 

fills  this  re-  Job   and   the   friends    alike.     Job    is 

quirement. 

looking  for  a  meeting  somewhere  out 
of  human  view,  where  his  integrity  shall  be 
recognized  as  it  is.  The  friends  are  looking 
for  nothing  at  all,  unless  it  be  some  flash  of 
divine  wrath  against  him  whom  they  regard 
as  so  bringing  piety  to  nought.  A  surprise,  ii 
makes  of  course  also  that  profound  and  heart- 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  77 

shaking  impression  which  cannot  but  result 
when  the  mortal  comes  face  to  face  with  the 
supernatural.     "  We  may  disbelieve," 

^  r      1        1  B^icknill, 

savs  an  emment  student  01  the  human    r/ie  Mad 

.r  •  r       1  Folk  of 

mind,  '*in  any  manifestations  of  the   shake. 

,        ,  ,  ,  speare,  p.  8. 

supernatural  ;  but  we  cannot  but  be- 
lieve that  were  their  occurrence  possible,  they 
would  profoundly  affect  the  mind.  Humboldt 
says,  that  the  effect  of  the  first  earthquake 
shock  is  most  bewildering,  upsetting  one  of 
the  strongest  articles  of  material  faith,  namely, 
the  fixedness  of  the  earth.  Any  supernatural 
appearance  must  have  this  effect  of  shaking 
the  foundations  of  the  mind  in  an  infinitely 
greater  degree."  Some  illustration  of  this  we 
have  already  seen  indicated  in  Eliphaz's  vision, 
where,  when  the  spirit  glided  before  ^^^  ^^^^^-^^ 
his  face,  he  was  overwhelmed  with  '"■  ^~~'^^' 
fear  and  trembling,  and  built  the  creed  and  con- 
duct of  a  lifetime  on  the  communication  he 
then  received.  Of  much  profounder  signifi- 
cance than  any  vision  of  spirits,  and  of  corre- 
spondingly greater  effect,  must  be  the  sublime 
theophany  of  the  whirlwind.  It  is  like  setting 
up  a  divine  judgment  throne  on  the  earth ;  it 
brings  the  glory  of  a  holiness  and  truth  wherein 
each  man  may  see  himself,  and  wherein  the 
thoughts  and  ideals  of  each  heart  must  neces- 
sarily be  revealed.     The   way  in   which    men 


78  THE   BOOK   OF  JOB 

meet  such  a  dread  ordeal  will  show,  through  a 
shrinking  abjectness  and  terror  on  the  one 
side,  who  at  heart  is  selfish  and  would  be  left 
alone  ;  and  on  the  other  side,  through  a  reverent 
awe  and  joy,  who,  having  the  real  determination 
of  heart  toward  God,  rejoices  to  be  warmed 
and  lighted  by  the  sunshine  of  His  presence. 

For  such  a  scene  as  this  Job  is  fully  ready, 
his  righteous  life  disclosed  in  epitome, 
for  the  the-  hlsrccordon  his  shoulder.  But  the 
friends  not  frlcnds  }  Thcy  have  retreated,  one 
by  one,  before  the  searching  fire  of 
the  patriarch's  words,  until  they  have  nothing 
more  to  say.  In  order  that  we  may  see  the 
power  of  the  Divine  Presence  manifested  at 
once  on  both  classes,  the  friends,  or  at  least 
the  spirit  and  principle  that  they  represent, 
must  needs  pass  likewise  in  review  and  sum- 
mary before  the  reader.  If  this  did  not  come 
to  pass,  the  action  would  be  lacking  in  a  very 
important  and  necessary  connecting  link. 

Here,  then,  and  as  I  judge  with  precisely 
this  significance,  intervene  the  discourses  of 
Elihu.^     In  the  character  of  Elihu  the  author 

1  If  the  discourses  of  Elihu  form  no  part  of  the  original 
poem,  but  were  added,  as  the  critics  assert  nowadays,  by  a 
subsequent  editor,  then  all  I  have  to  say  is,  I  prefer  to  study 
the  poem  in  its  latest  edition.  From  the  point  of  view  here 
taken,  the  writer  who  added  such  a  finishing  touch  as  this 
was  a  master  in  his   art,  one   who  could  be  fully  trusted  to 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  79 

presents  the  friends'  side  of  the  question,  freed 
from  the  heats  and  disturbances  of   rhedis- 
controversy,  and  brought  to  its  best   ^EUh"sec. 
expression.     Neither  in  word  nor  in  ^'Jxv.^and 
p;eneral  attitude  is  he  at   issue  with    'identify  him 

,   .        with  the 

them.      The    only    reason    why    nis   cause  of  the 

1  -I  friends. 

wrath  IS  kmdled  agamst  them  is  be- 
cause their  arguments  have  not  been  strong 
enough  to  convict  Job  ;  he  represents  con- 
fessedly what  they  would  have  said,  but  failed 
to  say.  He  stands  on  the  same  presupposi- 
tions ;  he  reasons  concerning  the  same  inac- 
cessible, unapproachable  God  ;  he  finds  the 
same  wicked  tendencies  in  Job  ;  he  points  Job 
to  the  same  goal  of  restoration,  discipline, 
renewed  prosperity.  He  is  merely  directing 
Job  in  a  little  more  minute  terms  than  they 

compose  the  whole  poem,  as  indeed  I  am  willing  to  believe 
he'did.  In  other  words,  I  do  not  think  the  critics  who  would 
expel  Elihu  have  made  out  their  case.  From  their  concep- 
tion of  the  poem's  scope  and  purpose  he  is  in  the  way;  they 
cannot  help  desiring^  his  absence.  Deduct  the  influence  of 
this  fact,  and  the  other  arguments  urged  against  him,  argu- 
ments drawn  from  his  alleged  Aramaisms,  his  peculiarities  of 
speech,  and  the  like,  are  confessedly  inconclusive.  He  is  un- 
deniably a  little  tedious  ;  he  has  words  and  idioms  of  his  own ; 
his  character  is  individualized  in  a  way  quite  different  from 
that  of  the  friends  ;  but  all  this,  whether  so  intended  or  not, 
but  serves  to  adapt  him  more  exquisitely  to  the  part  he  has 
to  play.  What  the  critics  would  take  away  on  the  score  of 
its  lack  of  harmony  with  the  rest  is  more  than  made  up  by 
dramatic  fitness  and  skill. 


80  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

have  used  to  take  proper  measures  for  rein- 
statement in  a  life  of  earthly  ease  and  comfort. 
So  far  as  we  can  see  he  has  no  more  idea  of 
serving  God  for  nought  than  have  the  friends. 
Even  his  exhortation  to  Job  to  accept  affliction 
for  the  sake  of  discipline,  true  and  sound  as  it 
is,  is  quite  consistent  with  the  idea  of  getting 
as  distinguished  from  that  of  giving. 
^^7  The  conception  of  the  character  of  Elihu  is 

Twofold  to  be  interpreted  with  a  twofold  ref- 
'o/EHk7s"  erence  :  to  the  friends,  whose  cause 
^''''^'  and   life   he  represents  ;  and  to  the 

coming  theophany,  which  is  to  bring,  as  it  were, 
his  spiritual  testing. 

As  the  champion  of  the  friends'  cause,  he 
possesses  the  advantages  that  inhere 

Elihti  as  .  ,  -     -         ,  ... 

the  Cham-  xxv  youth  aud  fresh,  enthusiastic  en- 
frie7ids'  ergy.  To  him  the  world  of  ideas  has 
just  opened,  lull  of  intense  interest ; 
he  is  not  hide-bound  by  the  timid  conservatism 
of  age  or  by  the  oracles  of  the  past  ;  he  has  a 
vigorous,  constructive  mind,  fired  by  zeal  and 
insight.  Many  of  his  words  are  truly  noble. 
His  discourse  is  rich  in  helpful  things ;  he 
directs  Job  especially  to  the  secondary  revela- 
tions of  God's  will,  —  by  dream,  by  vision,  by 
the  chastisement  of  suffering,  —  and  seeks  thus 
to  lead  the  patriarch  to  repentance  and  devout 
submission.     All  this  we  may  freely  concede ; 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  8  I 

for  we  will  remember  that  the  issue  of  the 
poem  is  not  the  issue  of  goodness  with  wicked- 
ness. Both  sides  alike  represent  righteous- 
ness and  devout  service  of  God  ;  it  is  only  the 
motive  of  such  service,  selfish  or  disinterested, 
that  Satan  has  called  into  question.  And 
what  Elihu  says,  noble  though  it  is,  but  serves 
to  identify  him,  as  to  standard  and  goal,  with 
the  friends  ;  it  is  what  consists  with  a  merely 
conventional  faith  and  a  traditional  God. 

As  related  to  the  subsequent  theophany,  the 
conception  of  Elihu's  character  is  not  EUhuas 
without  a  certain  grim  humor,  appar-  /Iftke'lhe- 
ent  especially  in  the  sharply  accentu-  ''^^''^''■^• 
ated  contrast  between  his  extravagant  preten- 
sions at  the  beginning  and  his  ludicrous  abase- 
ment  at   the   end.     He   opens   his   discourse 
with  a  long  account  of  the  wonderful  sectionxxu. 
thoughts  he  has  and  the  wonderful  ^~^^- 
things  he  is  going  to  do.     Then,  identifying 
his  thoughts  with  God's  thoughts,  he  sets  up 
definitively  for  Job's  Daysman   the  one  whom 
Job  had  so  longed  for  to  stand  between  him 
and  God  :  — 

"  If  thou  art  able,  answer  me  ; 
Set  words  in   array  before   me,  take   thy    Section 

stand.  ^^ii  47-52- 

Behold  I,  according  to  thy  word,  stand  for  God ; 
Out  of  clay  am  I  moulded,  also  I ; 


82  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

Behold,  my  terror  shall  not  unman  thee, 
Nor  will  my  burden  on  thee  be  heavy." 

Compare  this  with  Job's  words  in  section  vi. 
Section xxii.  62-69,  ^"^  it  is  obvious  what  he  has 
^'^'^^'  in  mind.     Elihu's  idea  of  a  Daysman 

is  a  wise  interpreter  of  life,  a  V'^'b^  '^T^'^'^j  "^ 
messenger,  an  interpreter,"  not  necessarily  su- 
pernatural, but  "one  of  a  thousand,"  exception- 
ally gifted,  and  authorized  by  his  gifts  to  speak, 
- —  such  a  one,  in  short,  as  he  himself  feels 
inspired  to  be.  As  he  proceeds,  he  feels  in- 
creasingly that  he  is  the  champion  of  God,  the 
channel  of  God's  word  to  Job,  through  which 
the  whole  controversy  is  to  be  settled. 

"  T  will  fetch  my  knowledge  from  afar, 
Section  And  to  my  Maker  will  I  ascribe  justice ; 

XXV.  4-7.         Yox  of  a  surety  my  words  are  no  lie  ;  — 

It  is  the  Perfect  in  knowledge  that  is  with  thee." 

So  he  continues  his  discourse,  eloquently  de- 
fending the  Perfect  in  knowledge  ;  until  across 
Sectionxxv.  ^hc  dcscrt  is  seen  a  storm  rising. 
35sgg.  With  great  beauty  he  begins  to  des- 

cant on  this,  and  so  long  as  it  is  an  ordinary 
storm  he  employs  it,  with  no  little  assumption 
of  wisdom,  to  Job's  edification.  But  as  it 
nears,  its  phenomena  become  so  exceptional 
that  his  experience  can  no  longer  account  for 
it:  it  seems  to  betoken  that  God  is  indeed 
coming,  as  Job  has  fervently  desired,  and  as 
the  friends  have  rather   savagely  wished  for 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  83 

him.  Whereat  Elihii's  words  become  confused ; 
he  begins  to  retract  his  pretensions,  stammers 
an  attempt  at  propitiation,  and  breaks  off 
abruptly,  paralyzed  by  terror  :  — 

"  Give  ear  unto  this,  O  Job  ; 
Stand,   and  ponder   the  marvelous    things   of    Section 

God.  •^■^^-  97--^^^- 

Knowest  thou  how  God  layeth  command  upon  them, 
And  maketh  shine  forth  the  light  of  His  cloud  ? 
Knowest  thou  the  poisings  of  the  thick  cloud, 
The  wonders  of  the  Perfect  in  knowledge  ?  — 
Thou  whose  garments  are  hot, 

Because  from  the  south  the  earth  lieth  sultry  still,  — 
Canst  thou  spread  out  with  Him  the  skies, 
Firm,  as  a  molten  mirror  ? 
.  .  .  O  teach  us  what  we  may  say  to  Him  ! 
We  cannot  order  it  —  it  groweth  so  dark  .  .  . 
Hath  one  told  Him  that  I  am  speaking  .  .  . 
Or  hath  a  man  said  ...  for  he  shall  be  swallowed  up ! 

And  now  they  no  longer  see  the  light, — 
That  splendor  in  the  skies. 
For  a  wind  hath  passed,  and  scattered  them. 
.  .  .  From  the  north  a  golden  glory  cometh  .  .  . 
Oh,  with  God  is  terrible  majesty ! 
The  Almighty  —  we  have  not  found  Him  out ; 
Vast  in  power,  and  in  judgment, 
And  in  abundance  of  righteousness  ;  — 
He  will  not  afflict ; 
Therefore  do  men  fear  Him  ; 
He  regardeth  not  any  wise  in  their  own  conceit." 

Thus  the  self-appointed  Daysman  shrinks  away 
before  the  test,  and  we  hear  no  more  from 
him.     A  humiliating  retreat  for  one  who  set 


84  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

out  SO  valiantly  and  self-confidently  to  defend 
God.i 

The  opening  words  from  the  whirlwind  dis- 
The  Lord's    miss  Elihu  abruptly,  — 

address 

fro"tthe  "Who  is  this,  darkening  counsel 

whtriwind,  ,     .  ,  ,  ■,  .  ,  ,  i     i       -v  »i 

sections  With  words, — but  Without  knowledge  ? ' 

xxvi.  and 

xxviii.  Sec  Then  the  Lord  addresses  Job  :  — 


tion  XXVI. 
2-5. 


"  Gird  up  thy  loins  now,  like  a  strong  man, 
And  I  will  ask  thee  ;  and  inform  me  thou." 


The  dread  Presence  is  here ;  and  Job  stands  at 
last  before  Him  who  seemed  so  far  off,  yet  to 
whom  in  all  darkness  Job's  spirit  turned,  as 
the  needle  to  the  pole.  What  now  shall  the 
divine  revelation  be  .-* 

Not  what  Job  expected  ;  not  perhaps  what 

1  At  the  end  of  Browning's  Caliban  upon  Setebos,  which  is 
his  portrayal  of  a  brutish  being's  speculations  on  God,  there 
is  a  striking  though  grotesque  parallel  to  this  closing  scene  of 
Elihu:  — 

"  What,  what  ?     A  curtain  o'er  the  world  at  once  ! 
Crickets  stop  hissing  ;  not  a  bird—  or,  yes. 
There  scuds  His  raven  that  has  told  Him  all  ! 
It  was  fool's  play,  this  prattling  !     Ha !     The  wind 
Shoulders  the  pillared  dust,  death's  house  o'  the  move, 
And  fast  invading  fires  begin  !     White  blaze  — 
A  tree's  head  snaps  —  and  there,  there,  there,  there,  there, 
His  thunder  follows !     Fool  to  gibe  at  Him  ! 
Lo  !    'Lieth  flat  and  loveth  Setebos  ! 
'Maketh  his  teeth  meet  through  his  upper  lip. 
Will  let  those  quails  fly,  will  not  eat  this  month 
One  little  mess  of  whelks,  so  he  may  *scape  !  " 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  85 

our  curiosity  seeks.     We  look  for  the  veil  to 

uproll  and  disclose  mysteries  beyond 

human  research  ;  Job  expects  a  hear-  o/ the  divine 

,  .  .  ^  .  All-        revelation. 

mg  and  a  justification.  And  what  is 
it  ?  Just  the  unending  miracle  that  passes  be- 
fore our  eyes  every  day.  In  the  heavens  above, 
in  the  earth  beneath,  in  the  great  events  of 
creation  and  phenomena  of  nature,  in  the  myr- 
iad life  that  fills  land  and  air  and  ocean,  we  are 
made  to  see  that  there  is  Wisdom  and  Power 
sufficient  for  everything,  to  make  every  crea- 
ture fulfill  its  part  in  one  infinite  purpose  and 
will.  No  esoteric  disclosure  for  some  excep- 
tionally favored  disciple,  but  what  every  one 
may  lift  up  his  eyes  and  see.  No  apologies 
for  mysterious  dealings,  nor  little  systems  of 
men  corrected,  but  the  perpetual  self-justifying 
course  of  a  harmonious  universe.  Is  it  not 
siiblimer  so  1  Would  we  desire  the  God  of  the 
ages  to  measure  reasoning  with  mortals,  and 
argue  out  a  case }  Nay,  it  was  more  than 
genius,  iLj-vas  inspiration,  that  kept  the  author 
from  such  a  fatuity. 

Job  hears,  and  makes  his  own  application. 
He  had  stood  ready,  like   a   prince,  How  job 
bearing  the   record  of  his   righteous  Tor'J^ 
life    on    his    shoulder.       But     what  "''"^'• 
seemed    his    worth,    when    he   had    only   his 
friends  to  compare  with,  seems  in  the  infinite 


86  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

light  very  small.  When  the  Lord  pauses  for 
his  answer,  he  has  no  word  to  say.  No  claim 
more  of  merit  and  a  triumphant  cause ;  no 
clamor  for  explanation  ;  all  has  melted  away 
in  reverence  and  humility,  being  absorbed  in 
the  one  blessed  consciousness  that  God  is  no 
more  a  hearsay  but  a  seen  reality. 

"  I  had  heard  of  Thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear, 
Section  But  now  mine  eye  seeth  Thee ; 

XXIX.  q-i2.     Wherefore  I  loathe  me  and  repent 
In  dust  and  ashes." 

Thus  Job  meets  the  test  with  that  worship 
which  is  at  once  rapture  and  pain  ;  takes  his 
place,  so  to  say,  with  submission  and  self-ab- 
negation, in  the  sum  of  God's  creatures,  con- 
tent to  fulfill  his  part  with  the  rest.^  This  is 
his  vindication  :  to  go  on,  with  enlightened 
eyes  and  chastened  spirit.  It  is  altogether  in 
keeping  that  in  this  vision,  so  profound  in  its 
influence,  self  is  lost,  and  reverent,  trustful, 
penitent  love  abides. 

1  In  the  long  train  of  creative  works  by  which  the  Lord 
teaches  Job  of  Himself  and  His  ways,  we    are    reminded  of 
Milton's  reflections  in  the  Sonnet  on  his  Blindness  :  — 
"  His  state 
Is  kingly  ;  thousands  at  his  bidding  speed. 
And  post  o'er  land  and  ocean  without  rest." 
Nor  is  the  lesson  that  Milton  draws  for  his  own  conduct 
dissimilar  to  the  submissive  attitude  here  taken  by  Job  :  — 
"  Who  best 
Bear  His  mild  yoke,  they  serve  Him  best." 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  8/ 

What,   now,    has   become   of   that   problem 
which  most  interpreters   have  taken 
as  the  central  theme  of  the  Book  of  job-probiem, 

r     r~>         y  .       ^s  generally 

Job,  —  "  the  mystery  of  God  s  provi-  propounded, 

IS  answered. 

dential  government  of  men  ?  "  In  de-  see  above, 
nying  to  it  the  supreme  significance, 
it  would  be  temerity,  not  to  say  blindness,  so 
to  insult  the  critical  mind  of  the  ages  as  to 
banish  it  altogether.  Nor  does  Job  himself 
ignore  it.  Has  he  not  asked  virtually  the 
same  question  ?  — 

**  Why  are    not  judgment    times    determined   by   the   Al- 

ni'ghty  ?  Section  xvi. 

And  they  that  know  Him  —  why  see  they  not   34, 35- 
His  days  ?  "      • 

And  all  this  time,  though  he  knew  it  not,  he 
has  been  living  the  answer.  The  grand  con- 
clusion, the  sum  total,  is  expressed  not  in 
words  but  in  life:  "Now  mine  eye  seethj 
Thee."  Need  one  whose  eyes  are  opened  by 
such  a  hard  schooling  ask  why  it  was  given } 
The  answer  is  self-evident.  Less  than  such 
stern  discipline  would  not  have  produced  such 
beauty  and  strength  of  human  character.  Less 
than  such  severe  chastening  would  not  have 
quickened  Job's  vision  to  see  how  subtly  self- 
ish motives  may  work  to  impair  the  friend- 
ships and  the  wisdom  of  earth,  and  how  suffi- 
cing is  the  refuge  provided  in  the  eternal  Love 


88  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

beyond  this  life.  And  the  answer  thus  em- 
bodied in  the  patriarch's  experience  is  a  world- 
answer,  pointing  to  that  mystery  of  travail  and 
suffering  which  everywhere  underlies  the  deep- 
est insight,  the  highest  achievements.  Shall 
we  ask  why  God  invades  our  ease  and  scourges 
us  onward  and  upward  to  the  table-lands  of 
vision  }  The  new  horizon  and  the  purer  air 
and  the  stronger  muscles  are  the  sufficient  rea- 
son. '*  The  spirit  of  man  is  an  instrument 
which  cannot  give  out  its  deepest,  finest  tones, 
except  under  the  immediate  hand  of  the  Di- 
vine H.axrQonist." 

Then    comes    the    Epilogue.      Job   is  com- 
mended ;  prays   for  his  friends,  who 

The  Epi-  ,  ... 

iopie,sec-  are  forgiven  at  his  intercession  ;  is 
restored  to  health  and  double  pros- 
perity. The  friends  were  righteous  for  the 
sake  of  worldly  good  ;  Job  was  righteous  for 
the  sake  of  God.  At  the  end  of  his  long  quest 
he  found  God  and  worldly  good  too  ;  the  greater 
brought  with  it  the  less.  Some  think  his  res- 
toration is  an  artistic  blemish ;  that  it  would 
have  been  a  nobler  ending  if  he  had  been  left 
suffering.  It  would  be  a  blemish  if  this  paltry 
reward  were  the  end  which  Job  sought,  and 
for  which  the  poem  existed.  But  the  quest 
has  already  reached  its  supreme  end  in  the 
vision  and  restored  favor  of  God  ;  this  is  merely 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  89 

its  incidental  addition.  And  at  least  the  old 
poet  has  put  God  and  prosperity  in  the  right 
relative  places,  in  remarkable  anticipation  of 
the  precept,  *'  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness  ;  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you." 

IV. 

One  more  inquiry  remains,  the  inquiry  as  to 
its  origin.  What  must  have  been  the  jy  cotisid- 
age,  and  what  the  nation,  out  of  which  ^^ard7ng7t's 
such  a  book  could  grow  .?  What  gQn-  '''''^'"' 
eral  vogue  of  thinking  could  have  environed 
such  colossal  thought .?  Genius  may  indeed  be 
a  mighty  tree,  growing  from  an  unseen  germ 
to  be  the  one  commanding  object  of  the  plain ; 
but  it  is  rooted  in  the  same  soil  that  nourishes 
the  shrubs  at  its  feet.     A  great  work 

^  ,.  ,         ,      -         ^      .  .A  poent's 

of  literature  both  feeds  its  age  and  is  relation  to 

its  age. 

fed  by  it.  What  the  book  returns,  in 
transmuted  and  vitahzed  form,  to  its  gener- 
ation is  what  it  has  already  gathered  out  of 
the  hopes  and  needs  and  problems  that  sur- 
round it.  Not  that  the  highest  Hterature 
is  merely  the  echo  of  the  people's  surging 
thought,  and  no  more;  we  cannot  say  this  of 
Tennyson  and  Browning  and  Whittier  and 
Emerson  to-day :  it  is  rather  the  utterance  of 
those  who,   making  the  universal  cause  their 


90  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

own,  Stand  nearest  the  light,  and  bring  the 
people's  inarticulate  longings  to  expression. 
The  poets  of  an  age,  when  they  let  their  open 
and  genuine  hearts  speak,  are  its  truest  seers. 
In  them  we  hear,  not  one  man  alone,  but  the 
vast  body  of  the  time,  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of 
hope  or  doubt  or  inquiry  ;  a  spirit  voiceless, 
until  the  yEolian  strings  of  the  poet's  heart  feel 
and  answer  to  its  breathings  ;  a  spirit  unguided, 
until  the  seer's  own  disciplined  and  originative 
personality  conducts  it  to  its  dimly  sought  rest. 
This  is  the  truth  to-day,  and  has  been  ever 
since  we  could  first  trace  the  connection  of 
literature  with  history ;  may  we  not  say  that 
something  like  it  was  equally  a  truth  twenty- 
six  centuries  ago  ?  And  when  this  Book  of 
Job  comes  home  to  the  general  spir- 

Such  relation   .  ,  ,  -,-  •  r   •      -i        -i     y 

to  be  sought    itual  need  as  freshly  as  if  it  had  been 

for  Job. 

written  to  meet  the  maladies  of  this 
nineteenth  Christian  century,  may  we  not  say 
that  its  involution  is  equal  to  its  evolution,  and 
that  there  was  a  great  heart  of  the  people  in 
that  old  time,  out  of  which  the  book  grew  and 
to  which  it- thrilled  responsive,  as  it  does  to 
ours  ? 

Yet  when  by  external  tests  we  endeavor  to 
Difficulty  of  fix  its  agc,  we  find  the  book  very  baf- 
itsage.  fling.  Generations  of  scholars  have 
ransacked   the   ten   centuries  from   Moses   to 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  9 1 

the  Babylonian  Exile  to  find  a  place  where  it 
would  fit  in.  It  seems  to  move  in  a  region 
unconnected  with  any  period  of  history  or  cus- 
tom that  we  are  acquainted  with.  It  was  be- 
cause the  book  has  no  traceable  contact  with 
Mosaic  legislation  and  ritual  that  it  was  con- 
jectured by  old  interpreters  to  be  the  work  of 
Moses'  middle  age,  when  he  was  a  shepherd  in 
Midian.  It  is  because  the  book  speaks  in  the 
Wisdom  dialect,  as  did  Solomon  and  his  com- 
peers, that  some  students  trace  in  it  a  shadowy 
contact  with  Solomon's  age.  It  is  because  for 
the  lesson  of  the  book,  intensely  individual 
though  it  seems,  a  national  occasion  and  sig- 
nificance must  at  all  hazards  be  postulated, 
that  its  composition  is  by  many  assigned  to  a 
time  near  or  within  the  Exile  period.  But 
none  of  these  indications  can  be  regarded  as 
conclusive.  Nor  is  it  easier  to  account  for 
what  the  book  contains  than  for  what  it  omits. 
It  evinces  knowledge,  not  slight  nor  casual,  of 
Arabian  deserts,  Judaean  mountain  ravines, 
mines  of  the  Sinai  peninsula,  beasts  and  plants 
of  the  Nile  region  ;  it  contemplates  modes  of 
life  both  pastoral  and  urban  ;  it  purports  to 
represent  a  distant  patriarchal  time,  ^p;,^^^  to 
yet  breathes  the  air  of  a  later civiliza-  ^fj!ifrk'^^ 
tion.  For  the  historic  setting  of  such  "^^'"^■ 
a  product  as  this  we  must  look,  I  think,  be- 


92  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

neath  the  vicissitudes  of  wars  and  dynasties, 
beneath  the  surface  of  political  movements, 
legislation,  ecclesiastical  affairs,  to  that  stratum 
of  national  life  where  there  is  least  to  record, 
yet  where  most  truly  history  is  made,  that  sub- 
soil of  thought  and  custom  where  the  great 
body  of  the  people  live  and  work  and  think. 
In  such  tranquil  surroundings,  if  we  can  pene- 
trate thither,  we  shall  find  the  influences  that 
lie  at  the  roots  of  the  Book  of  Job. 

But  are  there  obtainable  data  enough,  after 
all  these  centuries,  to  help  us  conjecture,  by  the 
creative  imagination,  something  of  that  far- 
away *'  spirit  of  the  age  "  to  which  the  Book  of 
Job  supposably  answers }  Let  us  gather  up 
what  there  is,  and  see. 

One  fact  we  may  take  with  confidence  as  the 
joba'work  Starting-point  of  our  inquiry,  —  the 
li^.t%?S-  fact  that  the  Book  of  Job  belongs  dis- 
'^°''''  tinctively  to   the  so  -  called  Wisdom 

literature  of  the  Hebrews  ;  being  indeed,  of  all 
the  products  of  that  Hterature,  the  grandest  in 
the  reach  and  ripeness  of  its  thought,  and  the 
completest  in  its  literary  form. 

What  the  Hebrews  called  Wisdom  corre- 
sponds to  what  other  nations  call  phi- 
jvisdomor    losophy.     Thc  books  classified  under 

philosophy.  "^  •  -,  ^  ^  c 

that  name   contain   the  thoughts  of 
earnest  and  observant  minds  on  life,  on  con- 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  03 

duct,  on  worldly  prudence,  on  divine  things, 
on  the  mystery  that  encompasses  the  world. 
And  they  introduce  us  to  a  class  of  men,  of 
whom  otherwise  little  is  known,  the  "wise 
men,"  who  in  an  unofficial  way,  and  with  ob- 
jects less  purely  religious,  taught  and  had  in- 
fluence along  with  priests  and  prophets  in 
shaping  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Hebrew  peo- 
ple. "  The  law  shall  not  perish  from  yeremiah, 
the  priest,"  said  the  men  who  re-  ■^'""-  ^^• 
jected  Jeremiah's  prediction  of  evil,  "nor  coun- 
sel from  the  wise,  nor  the  word  from  the 
prophet."  Each  of  these  three  classes  had  its 
work  to  do  in  the  Hebrew  state,  and  each  has 
left  its  record  in  the  Hebrew  literature.  The 
Law  and  the  Prophets,  mighty  as  are  their  in- 
fluence and  doctrine,  leave  an  important  part 
unsupplied  ;  they  are  supplemented,  as  they 
need  to  be,  by  the  utterances  of  Wisdom. 

And  a  fitting  supplement  these  are  ;  for  just 
iHS  through  law  and  prophecy  comes 

'  .  -      ,  - .     .  ,  ,       The  human 

to  US  the  voice  of  the  divme,  through    character  of 

Wisdom. 

the  Wisdom  literature  we  hear  the 
voice  of  the  human.  It  is  man  thinking  for 
himself,  interpreting  what  he  sees  about  him 
and  above  him  by  the  free  exercise  of  reason, 
spiritual  insight,  faith.  The  note  of  law  is  au- 
thority ;  the  note  of  prophecy  is,  "  Thus  saith 
the  Lord."     In   both  of  these  that  which  is 


94  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

above  takes  the  initiative,  it  lays  behest  on 
man  without  cooperation  of  his,  adapting  itself 
to  human  limitations,  but  not  reflecting  them. 
In  Wisdom  the  initiative  is  taken  by  man  ;  its 
note  is  inquiry  and  discovery.  It  is  the  result 
of  man's  efforts,  crude  and  short-sighted,  it  may 
be,  but  his  own,  to  think  God's  thoughts  after 
Him,  and  shape  the  world  anewjby  the  ideal  of 
man's  constructive  heart.  Whatever  it  gen- 
eralizes from  the  world  of  experience  is  the 
fruit  of  its  honest  and  open-eyed  observation. 
Whatever  conclusions  it  reaches  regarding 
man's  duty  and  destiny  rest  on  visible  and  veri- 
fiable facts.  And  whenever  it  pushes  its  in- 
quiries out  into  the  mystery  beyond  this  world, 
it  keeps  within  the  bounds  of  a  rational  faith 
and  insight,  as  it  interprets  the  things  it  be- 
holds, or  boldly  pronounces  on  that  which 
ought  to  be.  This  it  is  which  gi^'es  such  uni- 
versal human  interest  to  the  literature  of  Wis- 
dom. It  is  a  literature  that  embodies,  not  the 
oracles  of  priests  and  prophets,  who,  having 
the  nearer  vision,  speak  as  exempt  from  doubt 
and  mistake,  but  the  halting  yet  progressive 
thoughts  of  men  like  ourselves,  who,  sur- 
rounded by  a  world  of  perplexing  experience, 
must  interrogate  for  its  meaning  the  native  in- 
sight with  which  every  man  is  endowed.  When 
such  men  give  counsel,  the  universal  feeling 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  95 

of  comradeship  provides  ears  to  hear.  And 
whatever  revelation  of  the  unseen  is  achieved 
by  their  yearning  faith  is  revelation  indeed. 

Essentially  a  people's  literature,  then,  is  this 
Hebrew  Wisdom  ;  this,   too,   in   the 

1  -,  T .  T^  ^  Wisdom,  a 

more  natural  and  ordmary  sense.  Not  peopie\  lu- 
an  official  utterance,  it  rises  out  of 
the  people's  every-day  work  and  practical  af- 
fairs, giving  voice  to  the  thoughts  with  which 
their  lives  are  most  conversant.  To  kings  and 
laborers  alike  it  gives  direction  and  guidance : 
gathering  wisdom  for  men  when  they  go  to  the 
temple  for  prayer,  and  when  they  go  to  the 
city-gate  for  counsel ;  walking  with  them  in  the 
field  where  they  toil,  and  in  the  market-place 
where  they  bargain.  Its  note  is  eminently  in- 
dividual ;  ^  herein  lies  one  of  its  distinctive 
characteristics.  Law  and  ritual  are  prescribed 
for  the  congregation;  prophecy  addresses  it- 
self to  the  nation  at  large,  reading  the  nation's 
history  in  the  divine  light.     The  counsel  of  the 

1  Wellhausen,  in  his  article  on  "  Israel  "  in  the  Encyclope- 
dia Britannica,  makes  this  strong  individualism  of  the  Book  of 
Job  an  argument  for  its  post-exilic  origin,  because  he  regards 
the  pre-exilic  literature  as  suffused  only  with  the  national  con- 
sciousness. But  I  think  he  does  not  take  sufficient  account 
of  the  fundamental  difference  between  the  Wisdom  literature 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  on  the  other. 
Wisdom  was  always  individual  even  from  its  beginning,  as 
truly  so  before  the  Exile  as  after ;  and  the  argument  for  the 
age  of  the  Book  of  Job  must  be  made  up  on  other  grounds. 


q6  the  book  of  job 

wise  concerns  man  as  man  ;  and  in  no  other 
department  of  the  Hterature  are  we  brought  so 
near  the  great  heart  of  the  nation,  so  near  to 
men's  common  and  secular  pursuits,  as  in  this, 
where  untitled  and  unmitred  men  take  upon 
themselves  to  speak  out  freely  and  in  the  nat- 
ural style  what  is  in  them.  For  this  very  rea- 
son, also,  no  other  literature  is  so  hard  to  con- 
nect, in  our  reading  of  it,  with  national  events. 
To  find  its  era  and  origin  we  must  find  how  it 
answers  to  the  general  pervasive  spirit  of  an 
age. 

The  beginnings  of  the  Wisdom  culture  we 

trace  to  the  age  of  Solomon,  a  period 

o/VhTcui-^     when,  as  never  before  and  perhaps  as 

domain  Solo-  ncvcr  after,  the  Hebrew  nation  broke 

mott's  time.  i        i  i      11        r    •  1 

through  the  shell  of  its  narrow  exclu- 
siveness  and  became  awake  to  broader  and 
more  cosmopolitan  interests.  Solomon  him- 
self, with  his  keen  devotion  to  knowledge,  his 
judicial  mind,  and  his  "largeness  of  heart," 
was  the  impulse-giving  centre.  Through  his 
enterprises  in  commerce,  in  art,  in  internal  im- 
provement, in  foreign  intercourse,  a  new  and 
larger  spirit  pervaded  the  air  and  began  spon- 
taneously to  blossom  into  literary  expression. 
Inquiring  what  such  a  rich  and  varied  world 
meant,  and  what  were  the  laws  of  its  successes 
and    failures,   men    began   to  formulate    their 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  97 

observations  into  generalized  maxims,  such  as 
we  see  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs.  This  book, 
which  contains  the  earliest  Wisdom  utterances 
that  have  come  down  to  us,  is  the  natural  lit- 
erary evolution  from  those  ''  dark  questions " 
which  Solomon  put  to  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  or 
exchanged  with  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre ;  and  in 
the  aphoristic  viashal  style  therein  exemplified 
is  set  the  type  for  all  the  succeeding  Wisdom 
literature.  How  much  of  the  thought  of  that 
nascent  time  remains  to  us  in  written  product 
it  is  impossible  to  say  ;  but  its  spiritual  attitude 
and  tendency  was  of  a  type  so  distinctive,  and 
so  expressive  of  the  character  of  the  age  and  its 
king,  that  down  to  the  days  of  its  latest  devel- 
opment, only  a  century  before  Christ,  the  works 
of  the  Wisdom  literature  still  legitimated  them- 
selves by  the  name  of  the  wise  son  of  David. 
The  Book  of  Proverbs,  the  Book  of  Job,  the 
Book  of  Ecclesiastes,  and  the  two  apocryphal 
books  of  Sirach  and  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 
which  make  up  the  extant  body  of  the  Hebrew 
Wisdom,  possess,  with  all  their  differences  in 
style  and  doctrine,  a  unity  of  character  answer- 
ing to  the  free  spirit  of  judgment  and  inquiry 
impressed  upon  that  literature  at  its  birth. 

But  a  beginning  is  only  a  beginning  ;  we 
cannot  expect  a  literature,  however  vigorous 
the  impulse  of  its  inception,  to  leap  into  exist- 


98  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

ence  full  grown.    The  proverbs  and  riddles  and 

dark   questions  with  which  Solomon 

aTi^eiop.      and   his    court    amused    themselves, 

nient  must  i  i        i  i        i  . 

be  aiiawed     though  thc/  emoody  many  an  earnest 

for  in  Job.        ,  .  .     , .  -  ,        ,  ,   , 

mterrogation  of   life  and  the  world, 
are  still  ages  away  from  that  ripened  and  sea- 
soned product  apparent  in  the  Book 
'iJerluHure  of  Job.     Before    we   reach   that  su- 

in  yob.  , , 

preme  achievement  we  must  allow 
time  enough  for  the  Poor  Richard  maxims 
about  diligence  and  prudence  and  industry  and 
temperance  which  form  the  staple  of  the  early 
masJial  to  have  passed  from  truths  into  truisms  ; 
time  enough  for  the  Wisdom  utterance  to  have 
developed  from  detached  observations  into  a 
body  of  philosophy,  and  then  to  have  hardened 
into  an  orthodoxy,  with  its  intolerance  of  new 
things,  and  its  disposition  to  make  life  or  per- 
dition depend  on  what  a  man  thinks  ;  time 
enough  for  the  culture  of  Wisdom  to  have  long 
departed  from  courts  and  palaces,  and  to  have 
become  the  occupation  of  a  recognized  guild, 
with  its  blue  blood,  its  sacred  traditions,  its 
learned  nomenclature  ;  time  enough  for  the  phi- 
losophy to  have  become  so  international  that 
it  is  taken  as  no  strange  thing  for  an  author  to 
represent  Edomites  and  Hauranites  and  Ara- 
maeans as  speaking  in  a  common  religious  dia- 
lect which  in  no  way  interferes  with  the  dis- 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  99 

tinctive  cult  of  any  nation.  When  we  bear  in 
mind  how  tenaciously  theological  views  once 
established  hold  their  ground,  contesting  to 
the  death  every  inch  of  advance,  we  shall  be 
slow  to  reckon  the  period  as  brief  which  covers 
the  progress  of  ideas  from  Solomon  to  Job. 
For  not  only  does  the  book  bear  all  the  marks 
of  development  just  described,  it  sig-  Hmvjoh 
nalizes  also  a  new  period  of  doubt  ZwTeriof 
succeeding  to  the  first  age  of  discov-  "■f'^"'^^^- 
ery  and  generalization.  In  its  pages  the  Wis- 
dom hitherto  accepted  is  becoming  old  and 
stale.  Its  sages  are  repeating  their  lessons  by 
rote  :  lessons  faultless  in  rhetoric,  but  no 
longer  thrilling  hearts  to  vital  response,  and 
too  inflexible  to  adapt  themselves  to  new  ex- 
periences. The  Book  of  Job  exists  largely  in 
order  to  call  into  question  that  very  founda- 
tion truth,  which  is  to  Wisdom  what  Newton's 
law  is  to  astronomy,  that  both  righteous  and 
wicked  receive  in  this  life  the  fruit  of  their 
deeds,  prosperity  or  destruction.  A  new  in- 
duction of  life  must  be  made,  for  in  that 
principle  there  are  two  fatally  weak 

.  .  ,  '  n  •        •  Weakpoints 

pomts.     A  weak  pomt  first  m  its  as-  in  the  earlier 

.  ...  .  1   .         Wisdom. 

sumption  of  fact;  for  so  far  as  this  see  above, p. 

,  J5>  also  p.  ig. 

life  reveals  there  is  no  difference  be- 
tween the  fate  of  the  righteous  and  the  fate 
of  the  wicked.    Open  your  eyes  and  see  every- 


lOO  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

where  the  wicked  dying  in  a  prosperous  and 
honored  old  age  ;  and  is  not  Job  himself,  the 
man  perfect  and  upright,  suffering  a  misery 
which  if  this  standard  is  true  is  injustice  ?  A 
second  weak  point  it  betrays  in  its  fruit  of 
character.  For  under  such  a  law  of  life  men, 
reckoning  surely  on  prosperity  as  the  reward 
of  their  righteousness,  will  put  up  their  right- 
eousness in  the  market  to  be  sold  for  a  price ; 
so  that  the  mocking  spirit  roaming  to  and  fro 
in  the  earth  may  with  only  too  much  reason 
ask,  "  Doth  that  well-rewarded  man  serve  God 
for  nought  ?  "  Satan  may  be  narrow  and  self- 
ish, but  he  has  sharp  eyes.  He  sees,  what 
also  we  see,  that  when  we  make  God  over  from 
a  personal  Sovereign  to  a  law  of  nature,  forth- 
with from  servants  we  become  masters,  and 
begin  to  mould  that  law  to  our  own  selfish  pur- 
poses. That  was  no  small  discovery  to  make, 
in  those  early  days  ;  requiring,  not  only  acumen 
on  the  part  of  the  individual,  but  a  reenforcing 
readiness  and  sympathy  in  the  spirit  of  his 
age  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  author  of  the  Book 
of  Job  has  made  it  indicates  that  the  medita- 
tive years  had  passed  through  a  long  maturing 
process,  until  some  of  their  best-established 
ideas,  over  ripe,  were  ready  to  fall. 

But  to  give  definite  date  to  such  a  develop- 
ment as  this,  to  locate  it  at  its  precise  point  in 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  loi 

the  ages,  is  extremely  hard,  not  to  say  wholly 
uncertain.  The  tides  of  the  spirit,  Dimcnitv 
which  we  are  endeavoring  to  trace,  "{dlte^T'^ 
are  not  easily  estimated  by  years.  MiecZai 
Besides,  all  this  belongs  to  the  class  ^""'^'"''• 
of  events  of  which  little  note  is  taken  in  the 
more  pretentious  records  that  we  call  histori- 
cal. We  see  its  fruits  in  literature,  and  to 
some  extent  in  the  coloring  of  political  prog- 
ress ;  but  to  find  its  habitat  we  must,  as  I  have 
intimated,  turn  aside  from  courts  and  capitals, 
with  their  alternations  of  good  and  wicked  ad- 
ministrations and  their  fitful  vogues  of  piety 
and  idolatry,  to  those  quieter  regions  where 
men  think  more  and  live  a  less  changeful  life. 
We  have  not  reached  the  real  heart  of  Israel, 
that  Isaiah's  "remnant"  which  was  the  idola- 
trous nation's  sole  redemption,  when  we  have 
merely  traced  what  was  going  on  at  Samaria 
and  Jerusalem.  While  in  these  capitals  of 
Israel  and  Judah  long  lines  of  kings  were  cre- 
ating some  surface  agitation  by  playing  their 
little  games  of  war  and  diplomacy  ;  while 
priests  were  working  out  their  elaborate  rit- 
uals for  the  public  religious  service ;  while 
prophets  were  strenuously  seeking  to  guide 
political  affairs  according  to  principles  of  faith 
and  righteousness  ;  in  those  smaller  towns  and 
country  places  which  could  on   occasion  fur- 


102  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

nish  a  herdsman  of  Tekoa  to  prophesy  or  a 
Barzillai  the  Gileadite  to  serve  with  his  sub- 
stance the  cause  of  a  fugitive  king,  there  was 
all  the  time,  we  must  believe,  a  deep  undercur- 
rent of  constructive,  progressive  thought,  flow- 
ins:  and  broadeninof  from  its  remote  source  in 
the  ages,  channeling  its  way  through  the  real- 
ity that  alone  can  vitalize  any  forms  ;  on  which 
current  many  earnest  minds,  unheeding  the 
world's  fluctuations,  were  borne  steadily  for- 
ward toward  their  spiritual  rest.  Among  these 
minds,  and  with  such  tranquil  surroundings, 
dwelt  the  wise  men  who  wrought  at  the  prob- 
lems of  life. 

On  what  kind  of  a  world,  then,  looked  out 
the  wise  man  who  wrote  for  us   the 

Background     t^,         tti^x  r- 

of  the  Book    Book  of  Job  ?     In  the  first  place,  as 

of  Job  :    t/te  r  ' 

social  slate     thc   wholc  atmosphcrc   of   the    book 

recognized. 

makes  evident,  it  was  a  world  of 
tranquil,  settled  conditions  of  life  ;  these  seem 
Section  XX.  ^^  ^^^  ^^c  wholc  backgrouud  of  the 
'~^°-  writer's    consciousness.     When    Job 

looks  back  upon  his  life  of  helpful  activity 
among  his  neighbors  and  dependents  and  of 
wise  counsel  in  the  city-gates,  and  when  Eli- 
phaz  says,  — 


Section  ix.  "  that  which  I  have  seen  will  I  declare; 

Which  wise  men  tell,  a 
Things  heard  from  their  fathers, 


Which  wise  men  tell,  and  have  not  hidden. 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  103 

Unto  whom  alone  the  land  was  given, 

And  no  stranger  hath  passed  among  them,"  — 

we  seem  to  hear,  not  the  voice  of  these  charac- 
ters alone,  but  the  voice  of  an  author  whose 
dwelling-place  has  for  ages  been  remote  from 
invasions  and  national  upheavals.  Such  places 
there  must  have  been,  many  of  them,  in  the 
land  of  Judaea,  where  one  dynasty  occupied  the 
throne  continuously  from  David  to  the  Baby- 
lonian Captivity,  and  where  the  whole  history  is 
notably  lacking  in  the  interest  due  to  stormy 
and  revolutionary  annals.  In  such  regions 
Peace  under  her  olive  could  without  interrup- 
tions maintain  her  traditions  and  dwell  among 
high  thoughts.^  But,  secondly,  the  very  region 
and  era  which  would  furnish  such  congenial 
field  for  the  culture  of  Wisdom  would  also  be 
pervaded  by  an  atmosphere  in  which  such  Wis- 
dom, if  unvitalized  by  doubts  and  new  discov- 
eries, must  inevitably  grow  old  and  crumble. 
For  that  same  settled  permanence  gave  abun- 
dant opportunity  for  the  rich  to  extend  their 

1  Nothing  is  clearer  to  my  mind  than  that  the  Book  of  Job 
contemplates  a  period  not  of  adversity,  but,  if  anything,  of  too 
uniform  and  uninterrupted  prosperity.  Those  who,  assum- 
ing that  it  is  a  *'  national  dramatic  poem,"  project  it  into  a 
time  of  hardship  when,  like  the  Captivity  for  instance,  the 
lesson  is  needed  that  a  righteous  and  favored  nation  may  nev- 
ertheless be  afflicted,  seem  to  me  to  be  doing  violence  to  the 
whole  presupposition  on  which  Job,  as  a  wise  reformer  of  his 
age,  is  establishing  a  broader  and  deeper  truth. 


I04  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

possessions  and  grow  more  selfish  and  heartless, 
while  the  hungry  poor  were  obliged 
section  xvL    to  tread  the  rich  man  s  wme-press  or 
roam  the  wastes  for  bread.     Society 
would  crystallize  into  classes,  with  their  tyran- 
nies of  the  powerful  over  the  weak,  and  of  the 
aristocratic  over  the  humble.     To  oppress  the 
needy,  or,  what  comes  to  the  same,  to  let  them 
stand  shivering  and  hungry  at  the  rich  man's 
door  would  become,  even  with  the  nominally 
righteous,  more  and  more  a  matter  of  course  ; 
while    with   the     unscrupulous    and 

section  xvi.  wickcd  thc ,  harshncss  of  the  unfeel- 
60-7J. 

ing  creditor  and  the  secret  sins  of  the 

luxurious  idle  would  find  their  natural  nesting- 
place.  All  this,  which  but  follows  the  universal 
tendencies  of  human  nature,  reads  almost  like 
a  transcript  from  the  book  we  are  studying. 
Consider  what  kind  of  social  state  that  must 
Section  XV.  ^avc  bccn  wherein  Eliphaz  could  so 
*"^-  naturally  predicate  just  these  sins  of 

Job  merely  because  the  latter  was  rich  ;  where- 
sections  />.,  ^^  profcsscd  sages  who  had  their  les- 
x,.,xin.        g^j^  ^j^iy  1^^  j.^^^  \M^x^  blind  to  any 

iniquity  that   existed  apart  from  its  doom  of 
misery,  while  at  the  same  time  the 

Section  xiv. 

pure  soul  of  Job,  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  human  wretchedness,  was  quivering 
with  dismay  to  see  landmarks  removed,  cloth- 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  105 


ing  Stripped  from  the  needy  debtor,  famished 
and  thirsty  toilers  in  the  very  fields   sectio7i  xvi. 
and  wine-vats  of  the  wealthy,  and  yet  f/(^lLre1ee 
apparently  no  flash  of  divine  judgment  ''''^^^' 
against  such  enormities.     The  age  on  which 
our  author  looked  was  not  especially  idolatrous 
or  apostate,  nor  were  the  forms  and  decorums 
of  religion  lacking  ;  it  was  an  age  whose  easy 
prosperity,    too    long    unwatched    and    undis- 
turbed, was  becoming  heartless,  callous  to  so- 
cial ills,  heedlessly  worldly.  1 
And  for  such  a  social  state  what  spiritual 
guidance    and    admonition    existed }  state  of 
The  wise  men  sat  in  the  city  -  gates  /^^tS  t 
and  went  in  and  out  among  the  peo-  ^^^'•^^""^• 
pie  ;  what  did  they  teach  }     As  far  as  we  can 
judge,  merely  a  wisdom  that  followed  the  age 
instead  of  leading  it,  that  cherished  dead  tradi- 
tion instead  of  striking  out  new  truths  for  new 
and  living  needs.    The  venerable  Pro- 
verbs of  Solomon  constituted  its  basis  ;  verbs  o/sou 

onion. 

and  these,  with  their  thrifty  laws  of 
success,  might  easily  have  become  popular  as  a 
rich  man's  book,  making  it  so  natural,  as  they 
do,  for  men  to  draw  the  comfortable  conclusion 
that  (^because  righteousness  is  the  means  of 
prospering  in  the  earth  therefore  prosperity 
is  the  evidence  of  righteousness.  But  in  addi- 
tion to  these  there  must  have  been  accumu- 


I06  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

lated  a  considerable  body  of  Wisdom,  several 
The  neater  spccimens  of  whlch  have  been  pre- 
^domt^lud  served  in  the  book  before  us.  Bildad 
frominjob.  ^^^  EHphaz  quote  explicitly  from  it, 
ir-jsTix.'  to  prove  the  transitoriness  and  the 
^^~^^'  present  misery   of    the    wicked  ;    Job 

f^%'J"  ■^^''  quotes  a  passage  of  similar  import,  in 
Sectiou  via.  order  to  refute  it ;  and  it  is  not  un- 
likely  that  Job's  description  of  God's 
ways  in  history  and  Bildad's  descrip- 
xvu.,  xviii.  tion  of  His  mysterious  dealings  above, 
to  which  latter  may  be  added  Job's 
continuation  in  the  same  strain,  are  transcripts 
from  a  philosophy  familiar  to  all  the  sages  of 
the  time.  To  the  same  spirit,  though  proba- 
bly now  first  published,  may  be  reckoned  the 
Sections  Hi.  oraclc  of  Eliphaz's  vision,  and  per- 
%%4.  '*''^'  haps  Job's  praise  of  Wisdom.  Elihu, 
Sections  ^^^h  iu  words  but  obeying  uncon- 
xxn.-xxv.  sciously  the  dominant  traditions,  tries 
to  bring  Wisdom  up  to  date  in  order  to  fit 
Job's  case  ;  he,  and  indeed  all  the  friends,  may 
be  regarded  as  finger-posts  of  the  spiritual 
teaching  of  Job's  time.  And  what  do  we  dis- 
cern in  it,  beyond  the  lines  already  laid  down 
in  the  Solomonic  Wisdom.?  The  inashal  is 
more  finished  and  rhetorical ;  from  a  detached 
apothegm  of  two  lines  it  has  become  a  con- 
tinuous and  highly  wrought  picture  ;  but  it  is 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  I07 

Still  ringing  changes  on  the  same  old  theme 
of  righteousness  and  reward,  wickedness  and 
woe  ;  and  in  reconciling  the  obvious  discrep- 
ancies of  the  world  it  has  advanced  only  far 
enough  to  invent  a  doctrine  of  innate  corrup- 
tion, which  makes  every  man  wicked  enough 
to  deserve  whatever  punishment  he  gets.  It 
is  a  wisdom  that  occupies  the  social  heights, 
looking  down  upon  miseries  with  which  it 
does  not  sympathize ;  and  it  has  so  lost  vi- 
tality that  it  leaves  the  world  heed-  y^^^^,-^^ 
less  and  undisturbed.  Corresponding  'IfJl^^t. 
with  this  is  the  spiritual  state  of  its  ^'^^^^  ''^'"• 
teachers.  Their  God  has  become  a  hearsay, 
their  teaching  a  conventionalism.  Zealous  to 
justify  God  in  all  His  ways,  no  calamity  could 
be  greater  to  them  than  to  meet  God  face  to 
face.  Thus  along  with  their  age  they  have  be- 
come unspiritual  and  worldly  ;  and  deep  be- 
neath their  philosophy  there  lurks  the  dry-rot 
of  a  selfishness  which  eats  away  their  sensibil- 
ity to  the  highest  and  truest  things. 

Such  a  state  of  things  as  this  brings  its  in- 
evitable reaction.     Sooner  or  later  Sa-  . 

Ho-,v  this 

tan's  question  of  motive  must  come  state  of 

^  inim^s  meets 

to  the  front.  Sooner  or  later  also  a^  reaction. 
such  a  spirit,  permeating  the  remote  corners 
of  society,  must  begin  to  leaven  the  nation's 
affairs,    and    to   attract    the   attention   of   the 


I08  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

prophets.  The  first  of  these,  the  question  of 
motive,  has  been  raised  and  nobly  answered  by 
In  the  Book  ^^^  author  of  the  Book  of  Job  ;  who, 
of  Job.  jj^  ^]i  ^]^g  splendor  of  the  later  inashal, 
has  conceived  and  written  what  is  at  once  a 
masterly  arraignment  of  Wisdom's  weak  points 
and  a  creative  solution  of  the  world's  problem, 
so  woven  together  in  portraying  the  character 
of  a  historic  hero  as  to  make  a  world-epic,  a 
In  ike  sublime  monument  of  universal  liter- 

prophets.  ature.  But,  meanwhile,  has  all  this 
social  background  of  our  poem  been  otherwise 
lost  to  history  ?  Let  us  see.  During  the 
prosperous  days  that  culminated  in  the  reign 
of  Hezekiah,  in  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  a  coun- 
try prophet,  Micah,  looking  upon  the  same 
secluded  scenes  that  we  have  imagined  for  our 
Micah  a.  author,  spoke  such  burning  words  as 
''  "■  these  :    "  Woe   to  them  that  devise 

iniquity,  and  work  evil  upon  their  beds  !  when 
the  morning  is  light,  they  practice  it,  because 
it  is  in  the  power  of  their  hand.  And  they 
covet  fields,  and  seize  them  ;  and  houses,  and 
take  them  away :  and  they  oppress  a  man  and 
his  house,  even  a  man  and  his  heritage." 
Such  sin  as  this  was  apparently  the  crying 
evil   of  that  time  ;  for  we  hear  also 

Isaiah  ^-  <?•,,.,   , 

Micah  s  greater  contemporary,  Isaiah, 
from   his    point  of  observation  at  the  capital, 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  1 09 

saying,  *'Woe  unto  them  that  join  house  to 
house,  that  lay  field  to  field,  till  there  be  no 
room,  and  ye  be  made  to  dwell  alone  in  the 
midst  of  the  land  !  "  Exactly  this  unchecked 
covetousness  of  the  landed  proprietors,  with 
its  attendant  cruelty  to  the  poor,  we  section  xvi. 
have  seen  before :  it  is  the  first  great  ■^^"■^'^■ 
evil  specified  by  Job,  in  his  detailed  survey  of 
his  surroundings  ;  nor  can  the  friends  ignore 
it,  blind  as  they  are  to  many  things,  sections  ix. 
when  they  see  men  dwelling  in  deso-  •^'''  •^'"'  ^'^' 
lated  cities,  and  seizing  on  houses  that  they 
would  not  build.  The  general  religious  condi- 
tion, too,  recognized  by  these  prophets,  is  not 
at  variance  with  what  we  have  already  traced 
as  connected  with  our  poem.  It  is  not  idolatry 
and  apostasy  that  they  denounce,  so  see  Micah, 
much  as  that  formalism  which  freely  ""/saflh'i. n- 
dedicates  worldly  goods  and  neglects  -^^'^-^^ 
moral  obligations,  which  is  scrupulous  to  ob- 
serve new-moons  and  sabbaths,  but  is  all  foul- 
ness  and    extortion   within.      ''  Seek 

Isaiah  z.  I'J. 

judgment,  relieve  the  oppressed,  judge 
the   fatherless,  plead   for  the  widow,"   is  Isa- 
iah's   summary   of   man's    duty  ;    and  Micah's 
conclusion  of  the  matter  might  be  taken  as  the 
motto  of  the  Book  of  Job  :  ''  He  hath 

Micak  VI.  8. 

showed  thee,  O   man,  what   is  good  ; 

and  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but 


I  lo  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk 
humbly  with  thy  God  ?  "  Nor  can  we  fail  to 
be  struck  by  the  remarkable  parallelism  be- 
tween the  blind  subserviency  to  a  traditional 
Wisdom  on  the  part  of  Job's  friends  and  the 
imiah  xxix.  kind  of  teaching  that  Isaiah  observed 
13,14-  ii^    his    age  :   '*  Forasmuch    as    this 

people  draw  nigh  unto  me,  and  with  their 
mouth  and  with  their  lips  do  honor  me,  but 
have  removed  their  heart  far  from  me,  and 
their  fear  of  me  is  a  commandment  of  men 
which  hath  been  learned  by  rote  :^  therefore, 
behold,  I  will  proceed  to  do  a  marvelous  work 
among  this  people,  even  a  marvelous  work  and 
a  wonder :  and  the  wisdom  of  their  wise  men 
shall  perish,  and  the  understanding  of  their 
prudent  men  shall  be  hid."  Is  not  this  the 
very  portrait  of  the  men  whose  well-conned  wis- 
dom was  so  riddled  by  the  honest  doubts  of  Job  ? 
It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that  we  have 
The  Book  of  found  an  eminently  probable  date  for 
IrlbX"'^  our  poem.  What  so  natural  as  that, 
^tTnlel/'iiez-  Just  about  at  the  time  when  the  men 
of  Hezekiah,  perhaps  in  response  to 
a  kind  of  popular  vogue,  were  giving  enlarged 
srePro-  currcncy  to  the  old  Solomonic  lore, 
"'''"' '*^'^"'' some  unknown  country  poet,  speak- 
ing not  for  a  rich  and  thrifty  class  but  for  man 

^  So  the  margin  of  the  Revised  Version. 


THE   INTRO D UCTOR  Y  STUD  Y  III 

as  man,  should  have  shown   wherein  that  lore 
was    lacking,    and    by   sifting   it   with    doubt 
should  have   fitted   his   times  with  a  greater 
truth  ?     Such,  I  am  not  reluctant  to  think,  was 
the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Job.     And  in  so  con- 
cluding, we  see  in  many  significant  points  how 
the  age  and  its  needed  lesson  are  met  together. 
With  this  conjecture  agrees  very  well  the 
one  seemingly  clear  recognition  of  contempo- 
rary history  which  the  Book  of   Job  job's  aiiu- 
contains.    In  the  speech  wherein  Job  ]Zlporary 
concedes  to  his  friends  what  he  holds  ''"•''''"'-^• 
in  common  with  them  concerning  God's  ways, 
he  says  :  — 


*'  With  Him  are  wisdom  and  might ; 

rctanrlinof 

27-33 


To  Him  belong  counsel  and  understanding.  Section  viii. 


Behold,  He  teareth  down,  and  it  shall  not  be 

builded ; 
He  shutteth  up  a  man,  and  there  shall  be  no  opening. 
'  Behold,  He  restraineth  the  waters,  and  they  dry  up ; 
He  letteth  them  forth,  and  they  lay  waste  the  earth. 
With  Him  are  strength  and  truth  ; 
The  erring  one  and  he  that  causeth  to  err  are  His. 
Who  leadeth  counselors  away  captive  ; 
And  judges  He  maketh  fools. 
The  bond  of  kings  He  looseth, 
And  bindeth  a  cord  upon  their  loins. 
Who  leadeth  priests  away  captive  ; 
And  the  long  established  He  overthroweth. 
Who  removeth  the  speech  of  trusted  ones  ; 
And  the  discernment  of  the  aged  He  taketh  away. 
Who  poureth  contempt  on  princes  ; 


112  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

And  the  girdle  of  the  strong  He  looseth. 

Who  revealeth  deep  thmgs  out  of  darkness, 

And  bringeth  forth  to  light  the  shadow  of  death. 

Who  maketh  nations  great,  —  and  destroyeth  them  ; 

Who  spreadeth  nations  out,  — and  leadeth  them  away. 

Who  dishearteneth  the  leaders  of  the  people  of  the  land, 

And  maketh  them  wander  in  a  waste,  where  there  is  no  path. 

They  grope  in  darkness  without  light ; 

And  He  maketh  them  wander  like  a  drunken  man." 

Here  there  is  such  insistence  on  the  idea  of 
captivity  —  counselors,  priests,  and  whole  na- 
tions being  pictured  as  led  away,  kings  as  de- 
throned and  bound  with  cords,  princes  as 
treated  with  contempt,  strong  leaders  as  trudg- 
ing in  despair  over  the  pathless  desert  —  that 
we  most  reasonably  conclude  some  world-fill- 
ing event,  or  series  of  events,  observed  in  the 
author's  lifetime,^  and  still  recent  enough  to 
point  a  solemn  moral,  had  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion on  his  mind.  He  talks  about  such  his- 
tory, whatever  it  was,  much  as  we  would  talk 
about  the  well-remembered  events  of  the  Civil 
War  ;  only,  according  to  the  devout  Hebrew 
custom,  he  interprets  the  work  of  human  agents 
Historical  ^s  thc  permitted  and  appointed  judg- 
'^tkso/thiT  ment  of  God.  Now  the  period  of 
^'"^'^ '  which  we  are  speaking  was  just  the 
time  when  the  Assyrians  were  vigorously  en- 

*  The  two  lines  immediately  succeeding  the  above  are :  — 
"  Ikhold,  all  this  hath  mine  eye  seen  ; 
Mine  ear  hath  heard  and  understood  it  well." 


THE   INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 


113 


gaged  in  prosecuting  their  conquests  in  the 
countries  around  Judaea ;  of  which  conquests 
the  most  striking  and  pecuHar  feature  was  de- 
portation of  whole  tribes  and  cities  across  the 
deserts  to  Assyria.  The  northern  certain 
kingdom  fell  in  722  b.  c,  seven  years  fyrianc^'' 
before  Hezekiah  came  to  the  throne  ^""^■'■ 
of  Judah.  Arpad  had  been  taken  by  Tiglath- 
Pileser  in  740  ;  Damascus  by  the  same,  in  732. 
Sargon,  who  became  king  of  Assyria  in  the 
same  year  in  which  Samaria  fell,  took  Hamath 
in  720,  and  not  long  after  advanced  almost  to 
the  borders  of  Egypt  in  a  war  with  the  king 
of  Gaza.  In  712  the  embassy  from  Mero- 
dach-Baladan,  of  Babylon,  came  to  congratulate 
King  Hezekiah,  and  obtained,  as  was  doubt- 
less their  secret  purpose,  a  sight  of  his  trea- 
sures. In  711  Sargon  captured  the  Philistine 
city  of  Ashdod,  and  carried  its  inhabitants 
away  into  captivity.  It  was  not  until  701, 
when  Sennacherib's  invasion  of  Judaea  was 
checked  by  a  sudden  and  mysterious  calamity, 
that  the  Assyrians  ceased  to  threaten 

T      1  ■■     .  T  .1     Date  of  the 

Judaea  and  its  surroundmg  nations.^  passage 

.  above  cited. 

May  It   not  have   been  while   these 

events  were   still  fresh   in   memory,  yet   long 

1  These  dates,  which  are  the  ones  authenticated  by  the  As- 
syrian inscriptions,  are  taken  from  Professor  Driver's  excel- 
lent Life  and  Times  of  Isaiah,  in  the  Men  of  the  Bible  Series. 


114  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

enough  thereafter  for  the  nation  to  have 
learned  its  lesson  and  settled  down  to  a  pros- 
perous peace,  that  the  author  of  the  Book  of 
Job  wrote  the   passage   I   have   cited  above  ? 

That  it  was  much  later  than  Hezekiah, 
puitLg"t  "  say  when   Manasseh  was  disquieting 

the  kingdom  by  his  wholesale  experi- 
ments in  idolatry,  does  not  seem  to  me  so  nat- 
urally borne  out  by  the  general  complexion  of 
the  book.  Still  less  natural  would  it  seem,  es- 
pecially in  view  of  the  other  characteristics  of 
the  book  that  I  have  traced,  to  make  the  above 
passage  refer,  as  some  do,  to  the  captivity  of 
Judah,  which  began  in  588.  A  second  cap- 
tivity would  have  been  too  trite  a  story  to  be 
expounded  thus  freshly  and  vividly  ;  and  it 
would  more  reasonably  have  been  employed  to 
teach  a  national  lesson,  instead  of  the  individ- 
ual or  rather  universal  one  of  our  book.  Be- 
sides, we  cannot  well  imagine  the  tranquil  set- 
tled surroundings  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
evidently  filled  the  writer's  consciousness,  to 
have  entered  the  work  either  of  a  captive  exile 
or  of  a  lone  survivor  in  a  desolated  land  ;  one 
of  which,  if  the  writer  lived  in  the  Judsean  cap- 
tivity, he  must  have  been. 
Comparison  ^^  ^s  iu  uo  Unfitting  place  in  the 
T/rrar/''     Hcbrcw  Htcraturc  if  we  thus   regard 

the   Book   of   Job   as    contemporary 


THE  INTRO D  UC  TOR  V  S TUB  V  1 1  5 

with  the  great  Isaiah.     At  what  period  could 
we  find  language  or  thought  in  greater  vigor 
or  beauty  ?      Nor  does  it  thus  disagree  with 
whatever  literature  may,  for  likeness  of  style 
or  thought,  be  compared  with  it.     At    ^.^^^^^_ 
about  that  time,  as  we  have  seen,  the  verbs^xxv.- 
men  of  Hezekiah  were  making  their 
supplement  to  the  Book  of  Proverbs  ;  and  the 
part  that  they  added,   chapters  xxv.  to  xxix., 
shows  the  same  tendency  to  extend  the  ma- 
shal  from  a  detached  couplet  to  a  continuous 
passage  that   we  have   noted  in  the  Book  of 
Job.    Not  yet  was  the  section  written    ivithP^o- 
that  introduces  the  Book  of  Proverbs  --^-■-- 
(chapters  i.  to  ix.)  ;  that   was  the  addition   of 
the  latest  compiler,  who  lived  perhaps  during 
the  reign  of  Josiah  or  a  little  before.^     When 

1  "  For  my  own  part,  I  incline  to  connect  the  '  Praise  of 
Wisdom'  with  the  age  of  Deuteronomy.  Apart  from  the 
details  to  be  mentioned  elsewhere,  it  is  clear  (I  speak  now  of 
Prov.  i.-ix.),  that  the  tone  of  the  exhortations,  and  the  view 
of  religion  as  *  having  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,' 
correspond  to  similar  characteristics  of  the  Book  of  Deuter- 
onomy. And  if  we  turn  from  the  contents  to  the  form  of 
this  choice  little  book,  the  same  hypothesis  seems  equally 
suitable.  The  prophets  had  long  since  seen  the  necessity  of 
increasing  their  influence  by  committing  the  main  points  of 
their  discourses  to  writing ;  some  rhetorical  passages  indeed 
were  evidently  composed  to  be  read  and  not  to  be  heard.  It 
was  natural  that  the  moralists  should  follow  this  example, 
not  only  (as  in  the  anthologies)  by  remodeling  their  wise 
sayings  for  publication,  but  also  by  venturing  on  long  and 


Il6  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

we  compare  its  praise  of  Wisdom,  chapters 
viii.  and  ix.,  with  Job  xxviii.  (section  xix.),  it 
is  not  difficult  to  estimate  which  is  the  earlier. 
The  Wisdom  that  is  praised  in  Job  as  the 
most  precious  thing  in  the  world  is  still  the 
literal  austere  virtue  toward  which  the  early 
sages  directed  their  eyes ;  while  in  Proverbs, 
though  no  less  glowingly  portrayed,  it  has 
passed  into  the  feebler  and  less  sincere  artis- 
tic refinements  of  personification  and  allegory. 
In  the  same  way  of  greater  refinement,  less 
simplicity  and  directness,  the  following  pas- 
sage from  Jeremiah  bears  the  marks  of  a  copy, 
or  a  later  echo,  as  compared  with  the  passage 
where  Job  opens  his  mouth  and  curses  his  day: 

"  Cursed  be  the  day  wherein  I  was  born  :  let  not  the  day 

wherein  my  mother  bare  me  be  blessed.     Cursed 

xx^TI-iS;      be  the  man  who  brought  tidings  to  my  father, 

compare  Job,    saying,  A  man  child  is  boni  unto  thee;  making 

section  ti.  J      o^  '  o 

him  very  glad.  And  let  that  man  be  as  the  cities 
which  the  Lord  overthrew,  and  repented  not :  and  let  him 
hear  a  cry  in  the  morning,  and  shouting  at  noontide ;  because 
he  slew  me  not  from  the  womb ;  and  so  my  mother  should 
have  been  my  grave,  and  her  womb  always  great.  Where- 
fore came  I  forth  out  of  the  womb  to  see  labor  and  sorrow, 
that  my  days  should  be  consumed  with  shame  ? " 

Jeremiah  began  to  prophesy  about  6i8  b.  c,  in 
the  reign  of  Josiah.  The  way  in  which  he 
echoes  the  passage  in  Job  seems  to  indicate 

animated  quasi-oratorical  recommendations  of  great  moral 
truths."  —  Cheyne,  Job  atid  Solomon,  p.  157. 


THE  INTRO D  UC  TOR  Y  S  TUB  V  11/ 

that  the  latter,  which  then,  as  now,  must  have 
been,  of  all  the  book,  the  words  most  easily 
and  universally  recalled,  had  existed  so  long  as 
to  have  become  a  household  word.  In  model- 
ing his  complaint  after  the  words  of  the  suf- 
ferer of  Uz,  the  prophet  was  making  the  most 
vivid  portrayal  of  his  own  woes,  connecting 
them  as  he  thus  did  with  a  woe  that  had  be- 
come historic  and  sacred. 

Several  of  the  psalms,  notably  Psalms  xxxvii., 
xlix.,  and  Ixxiii.,  touch  upon  one  of  Job's  per- 
plexing problems,  the  prosperity  and  apparent 
impunity  of  the  wicked.     They  seem  y^^  ^^^. 
to  present  a  rather  later  phase  of  the  {TAtT^^ 
thought  than  is  apparent  in  the  Book  '^■"^^''"• 
of  Job  :  later,   in  this  respect,  that  what  Job 
works  out   as   a   discovery  and    makes    good 
against  the  prevailing  view  is  in  these  psalms 
taken  as  an  assured  tenet  of  thought.  Job  is 
the  pioneer ;  and  these  psalms,  whenever  they 
were  written,  follow  in  the  path  that  his  sturdy 
faith  has  blazed  out. 

For  the  great  ideals  which  the  Book  of  Job 
contains,  there  is  no  other  book,  as  comparison 
Professor  Cheyne  has  pointed  out,  fsJ^l^l'} 
which  affords  so  striking  a  parallel  as  ^^'"'^ 
the  Book  of  the  Servant  of  Jehovah,  Isaiah  xl. 
to  Ixvi.  Pervading  them  both  is  the  idea  of  a 
servant  of  God  pure  and  upright  yet  suffering, 


Il8  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

a  servant  so  afflicted  that  men  turn  their  faces 
from  him,  seeing  in  him  the  stroke  of  God's 
wrath.  Job  is  the  man  of  every-day  life,  who 
proves  by  his  unconquerable  integrity  what  it 
is  to  serve  God  for  His  own  holy  sake.  The 
Servant  of  Jehovah  is  the  idealized,  mediatorial 
man,  moving  in  some  mysterious  sphere  above 
us  and  making  intercession  for  sin,  even  while 
he  dwells  on  earth  with  us.  Job  reaches  by 
faith  to  the  idea  of  a  Heavenly  Friend,  in 
consequence  of  whose  intercession  he  will 
some  day  see  God  a  stranger  no  more.  In 
the  Servant  of  Jehovah  is  portrayed,  not  only  a 
friend  of  humanity,  but  a  somewhat  developed 
plan  of  vicarious  atonement.  The  ideal  in  the 
second  Isaiah,  which  adapts  itself  ^  confessedly 
to  the  national  needs  of  the  Babylonian  Cap- 
tivity, seems  to  represent  a  considerably  later 
and  more  matured  stage  of  theological  thought. 


Who  was  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Job  it  is 
Conclusion.  ^^^  ^^  iuquirc.  He  represents,  who- 
ever he  was,  the  ripest  thinking  and 
culture  of  an  age  which,  just  because  it  could 
environ  such  a  book,  we  cannot  forbear  to  pro- 
nounce   great;    and    with   a   self-abnegation 

^  Whether  by  anticipation  or  actual  composition,  I  leave 
to  the  interpreters  of  Isaiah  to  decide  among  themselves. 


THE  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  119 

which  to  our  modern  Hterary  ambitions  seems 
marvelous,  he  has  committed  his  book  to  the 
care  of  the  ages  without  a  name.  Nor  is  it 
unfitting  so.  The  book  is  ours,  all  men's  ;  the 
thankful  world  will  always  care  for  it  reverently, 
for  it  will  never  cease  to  be  young.  And  as 
we  look  back  toward  its  origin,  we  shall  be 
glad  to  cherish  this  our  priceless  heritage,  not 
in  the  narrow  human  copyright  due  to  name  or 
definite  date,  but  as  beholding  therein  a  large 
divine  Idea,  shaping  itself  out  of  the  nebulous 
confusion  of  a  far  distant  period,  and  orbing 
into  a  perfect  star,  in  whose  unchanging  light 
we,  with  the  patriarchs,  may  walk. 


II 

THE  POEM 


"  The  spirit  of  mmi  is  an  instrument  which  cannot  give  out  its 
deepest^  finest  tones,  except  tinder  the  immediate  hand  of  the  Divine 
HarmonistP  —  Principal  Shairp. 

"  He  seetns  to  hear  a  Heavenly  Friend, 
And  thro''  thick  veils  to  apprehend 
A  labor  workijig  to  an  end." 

Tennyson. 


PERSONS 

The  Lord  (Jehovah). 

Job,  a  wealthy  landholder  of  Uz  ;  a  man  perfect  and  upright. 

Eliphaz,  of  Teman,  in  Idumcea  ;  a  vener- 
able and  devout  vise  man. 

BiLDAD,  ofShuah;  a  disciple  of  traditiott.   \  Friends  of  Job. 

Zophar,  of  Naamah;    a   dogmatist,  elo- 
quent and  impetuotts.  ) 

Elihu,  son  of  Barachel  the  Buzite  ;  a  young  ArarncBanJull  of 
zeal  and  selfconfideftce. 

The  Satan,  or  Accuser  ;  the  spirit  that  denies. 

Job's  Wife. 

Sons  of  God,  Friends,  Messengers,  and  Spectators. 

Place  :  Uz,  a  country  lyijtg  eastward  of  Palestine,  between 

Idumcea  and  Chaldcea. 
Time  :   The  patriarchal  age. 


THE  ARGUMENT 

I.  Prologue.  —  i.  Job's  prosperous  estate  and  his  piety. 
II.  His  first  trial  determined  in  heaven,  and  inflicted  on  him 
in  the  loss  of  family  and  possessions.  Iii.  His  second  trial 
determined  in  heaven,  and  inflicted  on  his  body  in  sore  dis- 
ease, 'iv.  His  three  friends,  Eliphaz,  Bildad,  and  Zophar, 
visit  him,  and  are  silent  at  his  affliction.     (Chapters  i.,  ii.) 

II.  Job.  —  Opens  his  mouth,  and  i.  Curses  the  day  of  his 
birth.  II.  Laments  that  he  ever  was  born.  ill.  Longs  for 
death,  being  in  darkness  and  bewilderment  as  to  the  meaning 
of  his  hfe.     (Chapter  iii.) 

III.  Eliphaz.  —  Addressing  Job  courteously,  i.  Reminds 
him  of  the  faith  in  which  he  had  formerly  found  comfort. 
II.  Recounts  a  vision  of  his  own,  that  revealed  to  him  God's 
unapproachable  holiness,  iii.  Warns  Job  of  the  danger  of 
anger  against  God's  ways.  iv.  Directs  Job  to  return  to  God 
and  be  blest,  v.  Gives  sweet  promise  to  him  who  accepts 
God's  chastening,     vi.  Concludes.     (Chapters  iv.,  v.) 

IV.  Job.  —  I.  Justifies  his  anger,  and  finds  Eliphaz's  words 
insipid,  li.  Passionately  desires  death  to  release  him,  while 
his  integrity  yet  remains,  iii.  Bewails  the  treachery  of  his 
friends,  and  urges  return  of  friendship,  iv.  Describes  the 
greatness  and  hopelessness  of  his  anguish,  v.  Resolves  to 
speak  out  and  seek  explanation  of  God.     (Chapters  vi.,  vii.) 

V.  BiLDAD.  —  Reproaching  Job  for  his  rash  words,  i. 
Maintains  that  God  has  dealt  justly,  yet  promises  restoration 
to  Job  on  condition  of  repentance  and  confession,  ii.  From 
the  sayings  of  the  ancients  describes  the  precarious  existence 
of  the  wicked.  III.  But  holds  out  promise  to  Job.  (Chap- 
ter viii.) 

VI.  Job.  —  I.  Acknowledging  the  truth  of  Bildad's  words. 


126  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB 

yet  doubts  how  man  can  be  just  with  God.  ii.  Complams 
that  God  is  so  inaccessible,  and  on  Bildad's  data  finds  the 
world's  government  out  of  joint,  in.  In  his  forlorn  state, 
so  hopeless  of  maintaining  his  cause,  longs  for  a  Daysman, 
whom  yet  he  does  not  believe  in.  iv.  In  the  boldness  of  de- 
spair arraigns  God  for  His  seeming  hardness  toward  the  work 
of  His  hands,  v.  Implores  a  little  rest  before  he  goes  hence. 
(Chapters  ix.,  x.) 

VII.  ZoPHAR.  — In  great  heat  affirming  that  God  is  pun- 
ishing Job  less  than  he  deserves,  i.  Reproaches  Job  for  de- 
siring to  find  out  God's  hidden  ways.  ii.  Promises,  as  did- 
Bildad,  restoration  on  condition  of  repentance  and  confession 
of  sin.     (Chapter  xi.) 

VIII.  Job.  —  Perceiving  that  the  friends,  after  all,  have 
not  the  real  secret  of  God,  and  cutting  loose  accordingly 
from  their  doctrine,  i.  Describes  what  he,  in  common  with 
them,  may  hold  of  God's  mysterious  dealings,  ii.  Accuses 
them  of  asserting  what  is  wrong,  in  order  to  propitiate  God. 
III.  Commits  himself  to  the  firm  faith  that  his  own  way  of 
honest  integrity  will  issue  in  salvation,  in  spite  of  the  present 
seeming  verdict  of  divine  wrath,  iv.  Faces  the  stern  pros- 
pect of  death,  and  longs  for  return  of  life  after  the  grave. 
V.  Yet  acknowledges  how  groundless  is  such  longing  in  any 
analogies  that  we  can  here  see  or  experience.  (Chapters 
xii.,  xiii.,  xiv.) 

IX.  Eliphaz.  —  Accusing  Job,  out  of  his  own  mouth,  of 
impiety,  i.  Repeats  his  before-asserted  doctrine  of  God's 
holiness  and  man's  uncleanness.  ii.  Describes,  in  the  words 
of  ancient  wise  men,  the  lifelong  terror  of  the  wicked  man, 
and  his  inevitable  doom  in  this  world.     (Chapter  xv.) 

X.  Job.  —  Reminding  his  friends  how  easy  it  is  for  the 
unaffiicted  to  make  theories,  i.  Describes  anew  the  ravages 
of  his  disease,  ii.  Affirms  his  certain  belief  that  he  has  an 
Advocate  in  heaven,  in  which  belief  he  is  able  to  meet  their 
reproaches  calmly,  in.  Perceives  the  spiritual  blindness  of 
his  friends,  and  his  own  truer  insight,  iv.  In  this  conscious- 
ness draws  resignedly  near  the  grave.     (Chapters  xvi.,  xvii.) 


THE   ARGUMENT 


127 


XL  BiLDAD.  —  Incensed  that  Job  accounts  him  and  his 
fellows  blind,  1.  Describes,  largely  in  terms  of  Job's  afflic- 
tion, the  sudden  and  terrible  doom  of  the  wicked,  ii.  Seals 
it  with  an  affirmation.     (Chapter  xviii.) 

XII.  Job.  —  Recognizing  to  the  full  but  not  yet  answering 
the  friends'  reproaches,  i.  Affirms  anew  that  God  is  the  Au- 
thor of  his  wrong,  v/hich  then  he  describes  at  length  as  God's 
inveterate  enmity.  11.  Bewails  his  loneliness,  being  deserted 
of  all  his  friends  ;  and  implores  pity.  iii.  Breaks  out  into 
the  solemn  affirmation  that  because  his  Redeemer  liveth  he 
shall,  beyond  death,  see  God  as  his  Friend,  iv.  In  this  con- 
fidence warns  his  friends  against  misjudging  him.  (Chapter 
xix.) 

XIII.  ZoPHAR. —  Replying  in  passionate  haste,  i.  De- 
scribes how  short-lived  and  unsubstantial  is  the  triumph  of 
the  wicked,  ii.  How  the  sweetness  of  sin  turns  to  a  bitter 
curse,  till  an  outraged  God  sweeps  away  the  wicked  in  dark- 
ness.    III.  Concludes.     (Chapter  xx.) 

XIV.  Job.  —  Calling  for  attention  to  his  answer,  i.  De- 
scribes his  shuddering  dismay  at  what  he  sees  in  the  world, 
and  shows,  in  contradiction  to  what  the  friends  have  asserted, 
how  prosperously  the  wicked  live,  and  how  securely  they  die. 
II.  Yet  disclaims  sympathy  with  their  ways.  in.  Challenges 
his  friends  to  gainsay  the  apparent  equality  of  righteous  and 
wicked  before  God.  iv.  Denies  their  assertion  that  the 
wicked  are  swept  away  by  an  earthly  doom.  v.  Concludes 
by  branding  their  answers  as  falsehood.     (Chapter  xxi.) 

XV.  Eliphaz.  —I.  Accuses  Job  directly  of  sinning  and 
trusting  that  God  regards  it  not.  ii.  Counts  him  as  cherish- 
ing wicked  ways.  111.  Gives  him  a  final  exhortation  to  put 
away  iniquity  and  return  to  God  and  renewed  prosperity. 
(Chapter  xxii.) 

XVI.  Job. —  Yielding  to  the  strenuous  impulse  of  his  com- 
plaint, I.  Replies  to  the  accusation  of  cherishing  wickedness 
by  asserting  his  longing  to  find  God  and  present  his  cause. 
II.  Bewails  God's  hidden  face  and  inscrutable  ways.  iii.  De- 
scribes in  detail  the  ways  in  which  wicked  men,  all  around 


128  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

him,  are  sinning  with  impunity,  iv.  Denies  at  length  the 
common  idea  that  the  wicked  are  especially  marked  out  for 
earthly  doom.  v.  Concludes  by  challenging  disproof  of  his 
words.     (Chapters  xxiii.,  xxiv.) 

XVII.  BiLDAD.  —  Describes,  in  lofty  terms,  God's  unap- 
proachable holiness  and  man's  necessary  impurity  before 
Him.     (Chapter  XXV.) 

XVIII.  Job.  —  Ridiculing  with  scorn  the  inapplicableness 
of  Bildad's  words,  i.  Continues,  in  similar  strain,  the  descrip- 
tion of  God's  greatness  and  mystery,  ir.  Yet  avers  that  this 
descripticm  touches  but  the  outskirts,  not  the  secret,  of  His 
ways.     (Chapter  xxvi.) 

XIX.  Job.  —  The  friends  having  exhausted  their  argu- 
ments, Job,  resuming  his  discourse,  i.  Affirms  anew,  with  a 
solemn  oath,  the  essential  righteousness  and  truthfulness  of 
his  life.  II.  Describes,  in  correction  of  his  friends'  intem- 
perate and  one-sided  portrayals,  the  real  state  of  the  wicked, 
as  insecure,  without  delight  in  God  or  hope  of  a  blessed 
future.  III.  Sets  over  against  this  the  true  Wisdom  of  life, 
which  is  to  fear  God  and  shun  evil.     (Chapters  xxvii.,  xxviii.) 

XX.  Job.  —  Pursuing  his  discourse  further,  i.  Looks  back 
on  the  days  of  his  former  prosperity  and  honor,  and  describes 
his  life  therein,  ii.  Contrasts  the  woe  and  obloquy  of  the 
present,  wherein  even  the  most  degraded  despise  him. 
III.  Solemnly  calls  down  judgment  on  himself  if  he  have 
sinned  against  righteousness  and  goodness,  and  with  this 
noble  record  stands  ready  to  meet  God.  (Chapters  xxix., 
XXX.,  xxxi.) 

THE  WORDS  OF  JOB  ARE  ENDED. 

XXI.  Transition.  —  Elihu,  a  young  speaker  hitherto  si- 
lent, perceiving  on  the  one  hand  Job's  stout  justification  of 
his  ways,  and  on  the  other  the  friends'  inability  to  answer, 
takes  upon  himself  to  set  both  parties  right,  his  wrath  being 
kindled.     (Chapter  xxxii.  1-5.) 

XXII.  Ei.iHU. —  I.  Volubly  describes  his  youth,  his  hesi- 
tation, and  his  final  resolve  to  speak,  being  impelled  by  full- 


THE  ARGUMENT  1 29 

ness  of  words.  11.  Takes  upon  himself,  as  a  Daysman,  to 
represent  to  Job  the  cause  of  God.  iii.  Censures  Job  for 
his  complaint  that  God  answers  not,  and  shows  how  God 
answers  both  by  vision  and  by  affliction,  iv.  But  maintains, 
moreover,  that  these  are  to  be  interpreted  by  a  messenger 
from  God,  such  as  he  evidently  regards  himself,  that  the 
afflicted  may  penitently  and  joyfully  return.  V.  Concludes, 
by  demanding  either  reply  or  further  hearing.  (Chapters 
xxxii.  6-22,  xxxiii.) 

XXITI.  Elihu.  —  Turning  to  the  friends  and  requesting 
a  candid  hearing,  i.  Condemns  Job  in  that  his  defense  of 
himself  censures  God,  whereas  God  will  not  pervert  judg- 
ment. II.  Shows  what  it  is  to  condemn  the  Just  and  Mighty 
One,  in  whose  hands  are  the  destinies  of  all.  ill.  Counsels 
for  Job  rather  humility  and  confession  of  having  sinned  in 
ignorance,  than  such  arrogance  as  his.     (Chapter  xxxiv.) 

XXIV.  Elihu.  —  Addressing  Job  and  the  friends  together, 
I.  Shows  the  folly  of  which  Job  is  guilty  in  virtually  making 
his  justice  more  than  that  of  God,  who  is  so  high  above  our 
conceptions,  ii.  Explains  that  oppression  comes  upon  the 
poor  because  in  their  distress  they  turn  not  to  God,  who  is 
always  ready  to  deliver.     (Chapter  xxxv.)  ^ 

XXV.  Elihu. — Calling  yet  for  hearing,  and  identifying 
his  notions  with  God's  hidden  knowledge,  i.  Shows  how  by 
affliction  God  draws  the  soul  in  discipline  to  Himself,  and 
applies  this  in  Job's  case.  11.  Describes,  by  occasion  of  a 
distant  storm,  the  mighty  works  of  God,  which  are  beyond 
us  to  comprehend,  iii.  As  the  storm  approaches  and  bursts 
upon  them,  he  becomes  confused,  incoherent  in  speech,  and 
finally  breaks  off  abruptly  in  terror  and  abject  confession  of 
ignorance.     (Chapters  xxxvi,,  xxxvii.) 

XXVI.  The  Lord. — From  the  whirlwind  dismissing 
Elihu  with  a  word,  and  calling  on  Job  to  answer,  i.  Passes  in 
review  before  Job  His  great  creative  works,  —  earth,  sea,  and 
light.  II.  Mentions  the  great  things  of  common  nature,  — 
snow,  rain,  and  the  influence  of  the  stars,  ill.  Describes  the 
wonderful  animal  life,  which  displays  varied  wisdom  in  its 


130  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

creation  and  adaptation  to  its  place,  iv.  Calls  anew  on  Job 
bidding  him  answer  his  own  censurings  of  God.  (Chapters 
xxxviii.,  xxxix.,  xl.  I,  2.) 

XXVII.  Job. — Is  overwhelmed  with  the  sense  of  his  lit- 
tleness, and  declines  to  answer.     (Chapter  xl.  3-5.) 

XXVIII.  The  Lord. —  Calling  again  for  answer,  i.  Bids 
Job  exert  God's  power,  as  he  has  presumed  on  God's  judg- 
ment. II.  Describes  Behemoth,  which,  though  so  powerful, 
is  inoffensive  and  submissive  to  man.  iii.  Describes  Levi- 
athan, which  in  overwhelming  strength  sets  at  nought  all  that 
man  can  do  ;  how  much  more  exalted,  then,  Leviathan's  Cre- 
ator.    (Chapter  xl.  6-24,  xli.) 

XXIX.  Job.  —  Having  now  the  sight  of  God  for  which  he 
has  longed,  and  no  more  hearsay,  is  content  not  to  know  all 
and  to  abide  in  penitent  humility.     (Chapter  xlii.  1-6.) 

XXX.  Epilogue.  —  i.  Job  is  commended  before  the 
friends,  because  he  has  spoken  concerning  God  the  thing 
that  is  right ;  and  at  the  Lord's  behest  he  prays  for  them, 
who  are  forgiven  at  his  intercession,  ii.  He  is  restored  to 
double  his  former  prosperity,  iii.  His  subsequent  happy 
life,  and  his  death  in  a  ripe  old  age.     (Chapter  xlii.  7-17.) 


JOB 


I 

PROLOGUE 

I. 

THERE  was  a  man  in  the  land  of  Uz, 
whose  name  was  Job  ;  and  that  man 
was  perfect  and  upright,  one  who  feared  God 

Chap.  i.  i. 

The  narrative  portions  of  the  Book  of  Job,  which  comprise 
the  Prologue  (section  i.),  the  introduction  of  Elihu  (section 
xxi.),  and  the  Epilogue  (section  xxx.),  are  written  in  prose  ; 
the  rest  (except  the  section  headings)  in  poetry.  To  the  Eng- 
lish reader  the  difference  in  tone,  character  of  subject-matter, 
and  diction,  are  so  plainly  discernible  that  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  two  kinds  of  discourse  cannot  easily  be  mistaken. 
The  adoption  of  the  paragraph  form  for  the  one,  and  of  the 
parallelistic  form  for  the  other,  is  as  natural,  and  as  fitting  to 
the  thought,  in  a  translation  as  in  the  original.  It  is  this  fact 
which  makes  Hebrew  poetry,  as  poetry,  so  susceptible  of 
reproduction  in  another  language  :  the  poetic  form  depends, 
for  the  most  part,  on  principles  essential  to  the  thought,  as 
passion,  imagery,  and  elevation,  rather  than  on  rules  of  quan- 
tity and  assonance.  The  rhythm  is  such  as  our  impassioned 
prose  makes  to  itself,  —  fashioned,  that  is,  by  the  impelling 
spirit  within  the  thought  to  a  regularity  of  flow  and  accent, 
though   not   a   strictly  measured  regularity  like  that  of  our 


132  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  L 

and  shunned  evil.  And  there  were  born  to 
him  seven  sons  and  three  daughters.  And  s 
his  property  was  seven  thousand  sheep,  and 
three  thousand  camels,  and  five  hundred 
yoke  of  oxen,  and  five  hundred  she-asses, 
and  a  very  great  household  ;  and  this  man 
was  the  greatest  of  all  the  sons  of  the  East,  lo 
And  his  sons  used  to  go  and  make  a  feast 

Chap.  i.  2-4. 

metre.  Its  manifestation,  the  parallelism,  is  a  thought-meas- 
ure rather  than  a  form-measure. 

Line  i.  The  most  probable  location  of  the  land  of  Uz, 
which  at  best  is  matter  of  conjecture,  is  indicated  in  the  table 
of  persons  prefixed  to  the  poem.  What  is  of  chief  impor- 
tance to  note  here  is,  that  the  poet  has  laid  his  scene  in  a 
land  outside  of  Palestine,  with  its  national  traditions  of  law 
and  ritual ;  and  thus  he  has  chosen  a  fitting  place  for  an  ac- 
tion that  deals  with  the  pure  essentials  of  religion  and  morals. 

3.  Job's  character,  too,  exemplifies  that  devout  righteous- 
ness which  is  well-pleasing  to  God,  whatever  the  external 
form  of  service  ;  compare  Acts  x.  35.  In  the  life  of  Job 
the  poet  evidently  intends  to  portray  the  plain  and  univer- 
sal ideal  of  a  good  life,  such  as  every  one  can  understand. 
The  word  perfect  is  not  to  be  complicated  with  modern  dog- 
matic subtilties ;  it  correspoads  not  inaptly  to  Horace's  integer 
vitcE,  being  the  adjective  of  which  integrity  is  the  substantive. 

6.  The  word  translated  sheep  designates  in  Hebrew  both 
sheep  and  goats,  corresponding  to  the  German  kleijivieh^ 
"  small  cattle." 

9.  The  household  included  family,  servants,  and  depen- 
dents. 

10.  The  term  soiis  of  the  East  is  a  general  designation  for 
all  who  lived  in  the  regions  eastward  and  southeastward  of 
Palestine. 


I.  PROLOGUE  133 

at  the  house  of  each  on  his  day  ;  and  they 
would  send  and  invite  their  three  sisters  to 
eat  and  drink  with  them.  And  so  it  was, 
that  whenever  the  feast-days  came  round,  15 
Job  sent  and  sanctified  them  ;  and  he  rose 
early  in  the  morning  and  offered  burnt  offer- 
ings according  to  the  number  of  them  all  ; 
for  Job  said,  ''  Haply  my  sons  have  sinned 
and  blasphemed  God  in  their  hearts."  Thus  2tt 
did  Job  continually. 

II. 

Now  there  was  a  day  when  the  sons  of 

Chap.  i.  4-6. 

12.  It  would  appear  from  the  expression  in  section  ii.  2, 
that  the  day  observed  by  each  of  the  sons  was  his  birthday. 
Seven  times  a  year,  therefore,  such  a  feast-day  would  come 
round. 

-  16.  Job  sanctified  his  children  by  some  simple  ceremony 
of  washing  and  change  of  garments,  probably,  such  as  is  in- 
culcated in  Genesis  xxxv.  2. 

17.  The  form,  of  sacrifice  here  mentioned  was  not  such  as 
is  laid  down  in  the  ceremonial  law  of  Moses,  but  the  simple 
patriarchal  form,  such  as  from  earliest  times  expressed  the 
primitive  impulse  to  worship. 

20.  The  word  translated  blasphemed,  which  occurs  again 
in  lines  43  and  109,  where  it  is  translated  renounce,  and  in  line 
119,  where  it  is  translated  curse,  primarily  means  bless.  It 
probably  got  its  secondary  meaning  from  the  idea  of  giving 
the  good-by  blessing,  hence  bidding  farewell,  renouncing. 

22.  Sons  of  God  is  an  ancient  term  —  see  Genesis  vi.  2  — 
designating  the  spirits  who  attend  Him  anS  work  His  will. 


134  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  L 

God  came  to  present  themselves  before  the 
Lord  ;  and  among  them  came  also  Satan. 

And  the  Lord  said  to  Satan,  "Whence  25 
comest  thou  ? " 

And  Satan  answered  the  Lord  and  said, 
"  From  roaming  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and 
from  walking  up  and  down  in  it." 

And  the  Lord  said  to  Satan,  "  Hast  thou  30 
considered   my   servant  Job,    that   there  is 
none  like  him  in  the  earth,  a  man  perfect 

Chap.  i.  6-8. 

24.  The  word  here  translated  the  Lord  is  the  Hebrew 
name  Jehovah.  Outside  of  the  Prologue  and  Epilogue  the 
name  occurs  only  in  section  viii.  20.  As  the  interlocutors  are 
all  dwellers  in  lands  outside  of  Palestine,  it  is  natural  that 
they  should  apply  to  the  Deity  designations  more  general 
than  that  of  the  national  God  of  the  Hebrews  ;  the  writer, 
however,  being  a  Hebrew,  has  no  such  reason  for  avoiding 
that  name  in  the  Prologue  and  Epilogue. 

The  Hebrew  word  Satan  is  literally  the  Satan,  that  is,  the 
Accuser  ;  being  at  the  time  this  Prologue  contemplates,  a 
designation  rather  than  a  name. 

28.  Satan's  first  account  of  himself  betrays  that  lack  of 
dignity  and  stability  which  Goethe  has  taken  as  the  basis  for 
his  portrayal  of  Mephistopheles.  He  is  a  wandering  spirit, 
unattached  to  any  allegiance,  unsteadied  by  any  principle  ;  his 
only  occupation  being,  apparently,  to  appease  the  restlessness 
of  an  active  mind,  as  well  as  he  can,  by  incessantly  roaming 
over  the  earth  and  observing  its  affairs ;  see  Introductory 
Study,  p.  33.  From  this  trait  of  unrest,  the  unrest  of  a  spirit 
who  has  lost  his  moorings,  all  other  traits  of  Satan's  charac- 
ter, as  here  brought  to  light,  are  naturally  traceable. 

31.  Not   the    author  alone,  but    the    Lord   Himself  ac- 


j_  PROLOGUE  135 

and  upright,  who  feareth  God  and  shunneth 

evil  ?  "  1      • , 

And  Satan  answered  the  Lord  and  said,  35 
"Doth  Job  fear  God  for  nought?  Hast 
Thou  not  Thyself  set  a  hedge  about  him, 
and  about  his  house,  and  about  all  that  is 
his  on  every  side  ?  Thou  hast  blessed  the 
work  of  his  hands,  and  his  property  is  « 
spread  out  in  the  land.  But  put  forth  now 
Thy  hand,  and  touch  all  that  he  hath,  — and 

Chap.  i.  8-11. 
knowledges  Job's  good  life;  nor  does  Satan  deny  it.    That 
Job  is  a  trne  and  upright  man  is  to  be  accepted  as  an  „n 
iuestionable  element,  so  to  say.  in  the  hypothes.s  ™th  wh.ch 
we  set  out.    And  yet  it  is  just  this  element  which  Job's  fr.ends, 
merely  on  the  ground  of  his  affliction,  deny. 

,6.  Satan's  question  opens  the  whole  argument,  o    prob- 
lem, of  the  poem.    It  discloses,  for  one  thing,  the  weak  pom. 
of  the  current  Wisdom  philosophy,  which,  assocafng  as  by 
an  tmfailing  law  of  nature  prosperity  with  righteousness  and 
destruction  with  wickedness,  opens  the  way  for  a  merely 
selfih  barter  of  religious  service  for  worldly   wages;    and 
hus  the  question  says,  in  effect,  why  not  be  righteous  when 
^hteousness  pays  so  well  ?    But  for  another  thing  the  que  • 
tion  reveals  Satan's  character,  which,  as  the  sequel  shows    s 
rpolar  contrast  to  that  of  Job.    A  half  wondering,  half 
sneering,  wholly  selfish  question,  the  question  of  one  who, 
hav   "no  allegiance  outside  of  self,  has  no  ability  to  under- 
stand°unselfishness.  it  says  in  effect.  Is  there  such  a  thing  as 
dtinterested  integrity,  goodness  without  thought  o    reward, 
possible  in  the  world  ?     See  Introductory  Study  p.  19^ 

42    And  see  if  h,  will  not  renounce  Thee.    This  is  mhu 
ally  a  wag-,  as  if  he  had  said,  "  My  word  for  it,  he  will  re- 


136  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  L 

see  if  he  will  not  renounce  Thee,  to  Thy 
face." 

And  the  Lord  said  to  Satan,  "  Behold  all  45 
that  he  hath  is  in  thy  power ;    only,  on  him- 
self put  not  forth  thy  hand." 

And  Satan  went  forth  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord. 

And  it  was  the  day  when  his  sons  and  his  so 
daughters  were  eating  and  drinking  wine  in 
the  house  of  their  brother  the  first-born. 

And  there  came  a  messenger  to  Job,  and 
said,  "  The  oxen  were  ploughing,  and  the  she- 

Chap.  I.  11-14. 

nounce  Thee."  The  disposition  to  wager,  to  try  experiments 
with  the  future,  is  quite  in  accord  with  the  author's  concep- 
tion of  Satan's  character.  Having  neither  fixed  principle  in 
himself  nor  connection  with  the  Source  of  order  outside, 
Satan  has  not  prophetic  ability.  He  can  appeal  to  chance, 
but  he  cannot  foresee.  Goethe  attributes,  by  a  fine  insight, 
this  same  wagering  disposition  to  his  Mephistopheles  :  — 

"  The  Lord.  — Though  still  confused  his  service  unto  Me, 
I  soon  shall  lead  him  to  a  clearer  morning. 
Sees  not  the  gardener,  even  while  buds  his  tree, 
Both  flower  and  fruit  the  future  years  adorning  ? 

Mephistopheles.  —  What  will  you  bet  ?    There 's  still  a  chance 
to  gain  him, 
If  unto  me  full  leave  you  give, 
Gently  upon  my  road  to  train  him !  " 

On  renounce,  see  note,  line  20. 

50.   The  day,  —  namely,  the  birthday  of  the  eldest  brother ; 
see  note  on  line  12. 


I.  PROLOGUE  137 

asses  feeding  beside  them  ;  and  the  Sabaeans  55 
fell  upon  them  and  took  them  away  ;  and  the 
youths  they  killed  with   the    edge    of    the 
sword  ;  and  I,  only  I  alone,  am  escaped  to 
tell  thee." 

While  this  one  was  yet  speaking,  another  eo 
came   and   said,    "  Fire    of    God   fell   from 
heaven,    and    burned    the    sheep    and   the 
youths,  and  consumed  them  ;  and   I,  only  I 
alone,  am  escaped  to  tell  thee." 

While  this  one  was  yet  speaking,  another  65 
came  and  said,  **  The  Chaldaeans  made  three 
bands,  and  rushed  upon  the  camels,  and  took 
them  away ;  and  the  youths  they  killed  with 
the  edge  of  the  sword  ;  and  I,  only  I  alone, 
am  escaped  to  tell  thee."  70 

While  this  one  was  yet  speaking,  another 
came  and  said,  *'  Thy  sons  and  thy  daugh- 

Chap.  I.  14-18. 

55.  Sabceans,  —  predatory  hordes  from  the  mountainous 
regions  southwest  of  Uz.  In  section  iv.  39,  the  same  people 
are  represented  as  traveling  in  caravans. 

56.  The  youths,  —  that  is,  the  servants  who  attended  the 
flocks. 

61.  The  expression  yf;r  of  God  is  probably  meant  to  des- 
ignate lightning,  though  there  is  something  surprising,  not 
to  say  preternatural,  in  its  destroying  seven  thousand  sheep. 
The  storm  in  which  it  came  we  may  regard  as  identical  with 
the  hurricane  reported  by  the  fourth  messenger. 

66.  Chaldtsans,  —  marauding  bands  from  the  region  north 
and  northeast  of  Uz. 


75 


138  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

ters  were  eating  and  drinking  wine  in  the 
house  of  their  brother  the  first-born  ;  and 
behold,  a  great  wind  came  from  beyond  the 
wilderness,  and  smote  the  four  corners  of 
the  house,  and  it  fell  upon  the  young  men, 
and  they  are  dead ;  and  I,  only  I  alone,  am 
escaped  to  tell  thee." 

Then  Job  arose,  and  rent  his  mantle,  and  so 
shaved  his  head,  and. fell  upon  the  ground 
and  worshiped,  and  said,  ''Naked  came  I 
out  of  my  mother's  womb,  and  naked  shall  I 
return  thither.  The  Lord  gave,  and  the 
Lord  hath  taken  away  :  blessed  be  the  85 
name  of  the  Lord  !  " 

In  all  this  Job  sinned  not,  nor  attributed 
aught  unbeseeming  to  God. 

Chap.  i.  18-22. 

75.  Great  winds  from  beyond  the  desert  lying  east  and 
northeast  of  Uz  are  still  a  much  dreaded  and  not  unusual 
phenomenon  of  that  region. 

78.  To  report  the  four  messages  in  identical  words  is 
not  so  much  a  crudeness  as  a  naivete  of  the  ancient  narrative 
method,  which  is  not  at  all  reluctant  to  repeat  the  same 
words,  and  perhaps  looks  upon  such  repetition  as  a  grace, 
when  the  words  are  applicable  to  the  same  situation. 

82.  Job's  attitude  in  this  first  trial  is  that  of  firm,  almost 
proud  loyalty  to  God.  He  regards  the  stroke,  indeed,  as  di- 
rectly from  God ;  but  he  has  not  yet  begun  to  realize  the 
depth  and  the  involvement  of  his  visitation. 

88.  Auf:^ht  iinbeseemifig,  —  that  is,  unworthy  or  ungodlike. 
The  word  so  translated  means  literally  insipidity  or /<?//)/,  and, 


PROLOGUE 


III. 


139 


Again  it  was  the  day  when  the  sons  of 
God  came  to  present  themselves  before  the  90 
Lord  ;  and  among  them  came  also  Satan, 
to  present  himself  before  the  Lord. 

And  the  Lord  said  to  Satan,  "  Whence 
comest  thou  ? " 

And  Satan  answered  the  Lord  and  said,  95 
"  From  roaming  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and 
from  walking  up  and  down  in  it." 

And   the    Lord    said   to    Satan,     "  Hast 
thou  considered  my  servant  Job,  that  there 
is  none  like  him  in  the  earth,  a  man  perfect  100 
and  upright,  who  feareth  God  and  shunneth 
evil  ?  and  he  still  holdeth  fast  his  integrity, 

Chap.  ii.  1-3. 

as  applied  to  man,  is  a  not  unfrequent  term  for  wickedness. 
It  is  the  quality  in  God's  dealings  concerning  which  Job  begins 
to  question,  as  soon  as  the  greatness  of  his  affliction  has  be- 
come fully  evident  to  him  ;  see  section  vi.  75,  "  Is  it  beseem- 
ing to  Thee  that  Thou  shouldst  oppress  ?  "  As  yet,  however, 
he  views  his  stroke  as  only  the  right  of  God  to  take  away 
what  He  has  given. 

102.  The  question  whether  Job  would  hold  fast  his  integ- 
rity was  the  point  at  issue  between  the  Lord  and  Satan.  It 
is  worth  while  to  note  the  simplicity  and  sufficingness  of  the 
old  conception,  which  the  world  does  not  well  to  outgrow, 
that  integrity  or  wholeness  of  the  man  is  identical  with  loy- 
alty to  God.  The  man  who  renounces  God  goes  to  wreck  as 
a  man. 


I40  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  I. 

though  thou  didst  move  me  against  him,  to 
destroy  him  causelessly." 

And  Satan  answered  the  Lord  and  said,  ms 
"  Skin  for  skin  :  all  that  a  man  hath  will  he 
give  for  his  life.  But  put  forth  now  Thy 
hand,  and  touch  his  bone  and  his  flesh,  — 
and  see  if  he  will  not  renounce  Thee,  to  Thy 
face."  no 

And  the  Lord  said  to  Satan,  **  Behold,  he 
is  in  thy  hand ;  but  spare  his  life." 

And  Satan  went  forth  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  and  smote  Job  with  grievous 
boils,  from  the  sole  of  his  foot  to  his  crown.  115 

Chap.  ii.  3-7. 

104.  It  will  be  serviceable,  in  estimating  the  justice  of 
Job's  complaint,  to  bear  in  mind  that  God  Himself  is  repre- 
sented as  acknowledging  that  the  visitation  was  causeless, 
that  is,  not  just  to  Job's  deserts.  In  estimating  himself  as 
unjustly  punished,  Job  sees  as  God  sees. 

106.  Skin  for  skin, — presumably  a  proverbial  expression. 
Its  uncouthness,  as  used  in  such  majestic  Presence,  accords 
with  the  mocking,  detracting,  impudent  character  of  Satan, 
and  perhaps  furnishes  the  suggestion  of  Goethe's  conception 
of  Mephistopheles  as  incapable  of  lofty  and  dignified  speech, 
"Verzeih',  ich  kann  nicht  hohe  Worte  machen."  Nowhere 
in  the  Prologue  to  Faust  is  the  genius  of  Goethe  more  ex- 
quisitely displayed  than  in  the  shrewd,  cutting,  yet  essentially 
low  language  and  imagery  in  which  Mephistopheles'  thoughts 
are  everywhere  conveyed.  It  is  of  sarcasm  and  impudence 
all  compact. 

114.  These  grieiwus  boils,  with  the  signs  mentioned  by 
Job  subsequently,  indicate  that  the  .disease  with  which  Satan 


I.  PROLOGUE  141 

And  Job  took  him  a  potsherd  to  scrape  him- 
self with,  and  sat  among  the  ashes. 

And  his  wife  said  to  him,  "  Dost  thou  still 
hold  fast  thine  integrity  ?  Curse  God,  and 
die."  120 

And  he  said  to  her,  "Thou  speakest  as 
one.  of  the  foolish  women  speaketh.  What ! 
shall  we  receive  good  from  God,  and  shall 
we  not  receive  evil  ">.  " 

In  all  this  Job  sinned  not  with  his  lips.       125 

Chap.  ii.  8-10. 

afflicted  him  was  black  leprosy,  or  elephantiasis,  which,  of  all 
diseases,  was  universally  regarded  as  the  most  indubitable 
sign  of  God's  direct  stroke.  It  is  the  cruel  irony  of  Satan  to 
work  as  if  he  were  God.  Blake,  in  his  picture  of  this  scene, 
represents  Satan  as  wielding  God's  natural  agencies. 

117.  The  ashes,  —  that  is,  the  heap  of  ashes  and  refuse,  out- 
side the  gates  of  the  city,  to  which  in  Oriental  lands  the  leper 
is  banished. 

118.  With  true  feminine  tendency  to  think  in  the  concrete 
and  leap  straight  to  conclusions,  Job's  wife  traces  his  afflic- 
tion directly  to  its  personal  cause,  having  no  disposition  to 
philosophize,  or  to  leave  matters  in  abeyance. 

119.  Cu7'se  God, —  the  same  word  elsewhere  translated  blas- 
pheme or  renoicnce  ;  see  note  on  line  20.  The  abrupt  imper- 
ative here  and  the  evident  resentment  that  fills  her  words 
seem  to  call  for  the  translation  curse  as  best  representing  the 
animus  of  her  suggestion. 

122.  The  word,  foolish  was  the  common  Hebrew  word  for 
vile  or  wicked. 

123.  As  when  God  removed  His  gifts,  so  now  when  He  sends 
positive  afflictions,  Job's  first  attitude  is  strong  and  undoubt- 
ing  loyalty.  Browning,  in  "  Ferishtah's  Fancies  "  (The  Melon- 
Seller),  has  thus  drawn  the  lesson  of  this  reply  of  Job:  — 


142  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 


IV. 

Now  three  friends  of  Job  heard  of  all  this 
evil  that  had  befallen  him,  and  came,  each 
from  his  place  :  Eliphaz  the  Temanite,  and 
Bildad  the  Shuhite,  and  Zophar  the  Naama- 
thite.     And  they  made  an  appointment  to-  i3o 

Chap.  ii.  ii. 

"  *  How 
Enormous  thy  abjection,  — hell  from  heaven, 
Made  tenfold  hell  by  contrast !     Whisper  me  ! 
Dost  thou  curse  God  for  granting  twelve  years'  bliss 
Only  to  prove  this  day's  the  direr  lot  ? ' 

"  Whereon  the  beggar  raised  a  brow,  once  more 
Luminous  and  imperial,  from  the  rags. 
'  Fool,  does  thy  folly  think  my  foolishness 
Dwells  rather  on  the  fact  that  God  appoints 
A  day  of  woe  to  the  unworthy  one, 
Than  that  the  unworthy  one,  by  God's  award, 
Tasted  joy  twelve  years  long? '  " 

It  is  the  every-day  monotony  of  pain,  here  just  beginning, 
and  with  this  the  friends'  hard  reports  of  God,  that  rouses  by 
degrees  an  agony  of  inquiry  and  doubt. 

127.  Atid  came  ;  but  owing  to  the  distance,  and  the  leisurely 
modes  of  travel  and  of  sending  reports  in  the  East,  very 
likely  the  "  months  of  wretchedness,"  of  which  Job  speaks  in 
section  iv.  66,  intervened  before  the  friends  reached  him. 

Each  fi'om  his  place.  Teman,  in  Iduniaea,  was  noted,  as 
would  appear  from  Jeremiah  xlix.  7,  for  the  wisdom  of  its  in- 
habitants, —  a  distinction  which  Eliphaz  well  bears  out.  We 
may  perhaps  regard  Teman  as  the  renowned  seat  of  a  kind  of 
university,  if  we  may  use  so  modern  a  term,  where  Wisdom 
was  especially  cultivated.  Of  the  dwelling-places  of  Bildad 
and  Zophar  nothing  positive  is  known. 


I.  PROLOGUE  143 

gether  to  come  and  mourn  with  him  and 
comfort  him.  And  when  they  raised  their 
eyes  from  afar  and  knew  him  not,  they  lifted 
up  their  voice  and  wept.  And  they  rent 
every  man  his  mantle,  and  they  sprinkled  135 
dust  on  their  heads  toward  heaven.  And 
they  sat  with  him  on  the  ground  seven  days 
and  seven  nights  ;  and  none  spake  word  to 
him  ;  for  they  saw  that  his  affliction  was 
very  great.  140 

Chap.  ii.  11-13. 

132.  Knezi)  him  not,  — that  is,  so  disfigured  was  he  already 
with  the  ravages  of  disease,  that  they  did  not  recognize  the 
countenance  they  had  so  familiarly  known  in  the  past. 

138.  A\)ne  spake  ivord  to  him.  The  friends'  shock  of  sur- 
prise was  also  a  shock  of  disappointment.  They  had  arranged 
to  go  and  comfort  him  ;  but  when  ihey  found  him  stricken 
with  elephantiasis,  the  special  scourge  of  God,  how  could 
they  comfort  whom  God  had  afiflicted }  So  the  silent  da)^s 
gradually  become  ominous  ;  from  sympathizers  the  friends 
are  changed  to  spectators,  as  they  see  that  God's  favor  is 
withdrawn.  It  is  like  what  Isaiah  describes,  liii.  3,  4,  of  our 
treatment  of  the  servant  of  Jehovah  :  "  He  is  despised  and 
rejected  of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief; 
a7id  we  hid  as  it  were  our  faces  from  himT  The  reason,  too, 
is  the  same  :  "  We  did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten  of  God, 
and  afiflicted." 

At  this  point  the  vie\v  into  heaven  is  withdrawn,  and  the 
scene  is  left  with  its  two  principal  elements,  their  attitudes 
already  indicated  :  Job,  ignorant  of  the  Satanic  origin  of  his 
afHiction,  plunged  into  an  abyss  of  punishment  which,  even 
by  the  confession  of  God,  is  wholly  without  ground  in  justice  ; 
and   the  friends,  who,  judging  by  the  outer   sight   of  Job's 


144  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

disease  instead  of  the  inner  recognition  of  Job's  unshaken 
integrity,  are  already  withdrawing  sympathy  and  becoming 
estranged.  It  is  a  supreme  test  alike  of  the  loyalty  of  Job  to 
God,  and  of  the  current  philosophy  of  life.  Will  Job  prove 
that  his  service  of  God  is  not  for  reward,  but  because  of  his 
deep  hunger  for  divine  righteousness  and  communion  t  And 
if  so,  will  he  not  reach  a  higher  point  than  has  been  found  in 
that  philosophy  which  counts  on  prosperity,  or  shuns  de- 
struction, as  its  terms  of  allegiance  } 


II 

JOB 

After  this  Job  opened  his  mouth  and  cursed 
his  day.     And  Job  answered  and  said  : 

I. 
"  Perish  the  day  wherein  I  was  born, 
And    the    night    which    said,  A  man-child   is 

conceived. 
That  day  —  let  it  be  darkness  ;  s 

Chap.  hi.  1-4. 

The  opening  of  JolVs  first  speech  reveals  something  of  the 
obscure  march  of  his  soul  during  those  silent  days.  From 
being  proudly  trustful  in  God  his  musing  spirit  has  sunk 
back  into  passionate  despair  and  blank  bewilderment.  It 
seems  to  be  the  poet's  intention  to  portray  him  as  thrown  for 
the  moment  out  of  his  orbit  into  a  condition  too  elementary 
for  hope;  back  of  trust,  back  of  religion,  into  that  crude 
necromantic  superstition  which  curses  days  and  deals  in  the 
obscure  mysteries  of  materialism.  From  this  deep  starting- 
point  he  is  to  find  his  way  upward  to  light  and  God  again. 

Line  i.  Cursed,  — xiO\.  the  word  used  by  Job's  wife,  sec- 
tion i.  119,  but  the  usual  word  for  imprecation  on  what  is  base 
and  worthless. 

2.  Job  answered.  In  the  Hebrew  conception  an  answer 
could  be  made,  not  only  to  the  words  of  another,  but  to  any 
experience  or  state  of  things  with  which  the  soul  was  con- 
fronted.    Hence  Job  meets  his  affliction  with  an  answer. 


146  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  II. 

Let  not  God  inquire  after  it  from  above, 

And  let  not  light  shine  upon  it. 

Let  darkness  and  shadow  of  death  reclaim  it ; 

Let  cloud  rest  upon  it ; 

Let  darkenings  of  the  day  terrify  it.  10 

That  night  —  thick  darkness  seize  upon  it  ; 

Let  it  not  rejoice  among  the  days  of  the  year ; 

Let  it  not  come  into  the  number  of  the  months. 

Lo  !  that  night  —  let  it  be  barren  ; 

Let  no  joyful  voice  come  therein.  is 

Let  them  curse  it  who  curse  days, 

Who  are  skilled  to  rouse  up  leviathan. 

Chap.  hi.  4-8. 

6.  Inquire  after  it,  —  that  is,  so  as  to  take  account  of  it  as 
a  day  of  history.  It  is  to  have  no  otfice  in  the  sum  of  things, 
and  hence  no  record. 

8.  Reclaim  it,  —  that  is,  let  that  day  revert  to  the  chaos 
that  belonged  to  time  before  the  creation. 

ID.  Darkenijigs  of  the  day,  —  eclipses,  which  in  unscientific 
times  and  lands  have  always  been  regarded  with  terror  as  of 
mysterious  and  sinister  portent. 

1 1 .  Thick  darkness,  —  that  is,  let  it  be  plunged  into  a  deeper 
than  natural  night,  the  night,  as  it  were,  of  night. 

14.  Barren,  — t\v2it  is,  of  births.  T)\q.  joyful  voice,  in  the 
next  line,  means  the  voice  of  gladness  over  new-begun  lives. 

16.  Who  curse  days,  —  magicians  who  were  supposed  by 
their  spells  and  incantations  to  make  days  unlucky. 

17.  Rouse  up  leznathan,  —  according  to  an  ancient  solar 
myth,  the  storm-dragon  that  swallows  up  the  sun  in  cloud. 
Perhaps  the  same  myth  is  alluded  to  in  the  "monster  of  the 
deep,"  section  iv.  86,  and  in  the  "flying  serpent,"  section 
xviii.  25.     See  also  Isaiah  li.  9,  and  Jeremiah  li.  34. 


II.  JOB  147 

Let  the  stars  of  its  dawning  be  darkened  ; 
Let  it  look  for  light  and  there  be  none ; 
And  let  it  not  see  the  eyelids  of  the  morning.  20 
Because  it  shut  not  the  doors  of  the  womb  that 

bare  me, 
Nor  hid  sorrow  from  mine  eyes. 

II. 

*'  Wherefore  did  I  not  die  from  the  womb,  — 
Come  forth   from   the  belly,  and  breathe  my 

last .? 
Why  were  knees  ready  to  meet  me,  25 

And  why  the  breasts,  that  I  might  suck  } 

Chap.  hi.  9-12. 

20.  The  eyelids  of  the  morning.  This  beautiful  figure, 
which  is  used  again  in  section  xxviii.  ']i,  has  been  trans- 
planted into  English  by  Milton,  Lycidas,  26  :  — 

"  Under  the  opening  eyelids  of  the  Morn 
We  drove  afield." 

21.  The  7vo?nb  that  bare  me,  —  literally,  "  ?;rj/  womb."  In 
this  and  the  next  line  this  strophe  reaches  its  first  definite 
goal  of  feeling.  So  far  Job's  plaint  has  been  only  the  spon- 
taneous overflow  of  anguish,  venting  itself  blindly  on  the  day 
of  birth,  but  as  yet  evolving  no  meaning  out  of  the  stroke. 
Job  is  almost  "stunned  from  his  power  to  think;  "  but  even 
in  his  wild  and  aimless  expression,  being  unchecked,  there  is 
a  use,  as  an  assuager  of  pain  and  a  means  of  bringing  the 
calmer  mind.  Compare  Tennyson's  In  Memoriam,  v.  2  ;  xvi. 
4.  The  first  eighteen  sections  of  In  Memoriam  are  strik- 
ingly parallel  in  spirit  to  sections  ii.  and  iv.  of  this  Book  of 
Job,  as  portraying  the  slow  emergence  of  a  soul  out  of  the 
chaos  of  despair,  and  into  a  definite  conception  of  its  evil  case. 


148  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  H. 

For  then  had  I  lain  down  and  been  quiet  ; 

I   had  slept,  —  then  would  there  be  rest  for 

me,  — 
With  kings  and  counselors  of  the  earth, 
Who  built  themselves  ruins  ;  30 

Or  with  princes  who  had  gold. 
Who  filled  their  houses  with  silver  ; 
Or  as  a  hidden  untimely  birth  I  had  not  been,  — 
As  infants  that  never  saw  light. 
There  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  85 

And  there  the  weary  are  at  rest. 
The  prisoners  are  at  ease  together ; 
They  hear  not  the  voice  of  the  taskmaster. 
Small  and  great  —  both  are  there  ; 
And  the  servant  is  free  from  his  lord.  ^^ 

Chap.  hi.  13-19. 

27.  In  this  thought  of  rest  and  oblivion,  which  is  the  key- 
note of  this  second  strophe,  Job's  plaint  begins  to  gather  to 
its  focus,  though  as  yet  he  has  formed  no  theory  of  his  afflic- 
tion. 

30.  Built  themselves  ruins,  —  that  is,  palaces  that  decayed 
and  passed  away,  became  ruins,  after  their  builders'  death. 
Job  is  thinking  of  the  kings  and  counselors  of  so  long  ago  that 
not  only  themselves  but  their  works  have  passed  into  obliv- 
ion ;  it  is  for  such  intensified  oblivion  that  he  longs. 

35.  There.  It  is  a  state  rather  than  a  place  that  Job  is 
contemplating,  —  a  state  of  utter  nothingness,  which,  by  con- 
trast with  the  present,  seems  to  have  all  the  sweetness  of 
quiet,  peace,  and  freedom.  His  thoughts  go  no  farther  than 
the  phenomenal  aspect  of  death  :  — 

"  There  is  no  other  thing  express'd 
But  long  disquiet  merged  in  rest." 


II.  JOB  149 


III. 

"Wherefore  giveth  He  light  to  the  wretched, 
And  Ufe  to  the  bitter  in  soul  ?  — 
Who  long  for  death,  and  it  cometh  not, 
And  dig  for  it,  more  than  for  hid  treasures. 
Who  are  glad,  even  to  exulting,  45 

And  leap  for  joy,  when  they  find  the  grave,  — 
To  a  man  whose  way  is  hid, 
And  whom  God  hath  hedged  in  ? 
For  instead  of  my  food  cometh  my  sighing, 


Chap.  hi.  20-24. 

41.  So  at  last  Job's  obscure  meditations  concentrate  them- 
selves into  a  wherefore.  In  this  depth  of  suffering,  life  has 
become  an  insoluble  problem, 

47.  The  construction  of  this  line  is  joined  on  to  that  of  line 
41  :  "Wherefore  giveth  He  light  ...  and  life  .  .  .  to  a  man 
whose  way  is  hid."  In  this  and  the  next  line  Job  reaches 
his  defining-point,  the  real  secret  of  his  anguish  of  soul.  He 
has  lost  the  clue  to  God  and  God's  ways,  being  plunged  into 
an  abyss  of  punishment  for  which  he  can  find  no  cause.  The 
way  that  he  has  hitherto  taken,  with  its  consciousness  of  di- 
vine companionship  and  friendship  (compare  section  xx.  7), 
is  suddenly  closed  ;  there  is  no  longer  any  outlook.  From 
this  point  he  must  grope  his  way,  a  long  and  weary  road,  be- 
fore he  can  say,  "  He  knoweth  the  way  that  is  mine  ;  "  see 
section  xvi.  18,  and  compare  xx.  122. 

49.  Instead  of  my  food.  The  word  translated  "  instead  of  " 
may  also  mean  "before."  The  exact  expression  is  obscure, 
but  the  general  meaning  is  that  sighing  fills  as  promment  a 
place  in  life  as  food  once  did.  giving  woe  as  food  used  to  give 
pleasure  and  nourishment. 


150  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  II. 

And  poured  out  like  water  are  my  groans.       50 
For  I  feared  a  fear,  and  it  hath  overtaken  me, 
And  what  I  dreaded  is  come  upon  me. 
I  was  not  heedless,  nor  was  I  at  ease, 
Nor  was  I  at  rest, —  yet  trouble  came." 

Chap.  hi.  24-26. 

51-54.  I  feared  a  fear.  It  is  a  common  Hebrew  idiom  to 
use  a  verb  thus  with  a  cognate  noun.  These  lines,  while 
they  reveal  the  genuineness  of  Job's  piety,  also  betray  the 
comparatively  crude  nature  of  it  hitherto.  A  touch  of  the 
same  quality  has  already  been  shown  in  his  solicitude  for  his 
sons,  section  i.  19,  his  fear  lest  some  unsuspected  sin,  like  a 
grain  of  sand  in  the  machinery,  may  have  destroyed  the  deli- 
cate adjustment  of  their  souls  to  God.  Here,  too,  his  piety 
has  been  largely  an  uncertain,  uncomfortable  fear.  It  has 
been  negative  rather  than  positive,  a  proph3iactic  against  evil 
rather  than  an  unruffled  confidence  in  God,  an  anxious  en- 
deavor to  avoid  some  blow  in  the  dark  rather  than  going  on 
to  triumphs  in  light.  One  important  result  of  Job's  trial  will 
be  to  change  his  piety  from  negative  to  positive,  from  fear  to 
love  ;  so  that  what  Satan  intended  for  his  destruction  will 
not  only  confirm  his  integrity,  but  exalt  and  refine  his  whole 
relation  to  God.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  Satan's  tearing-down 
may  work  also  to  building-up,  —  that,  as  Goethe  says  (Pro- 
logue to  Faust)  "er  muss,  als  Teufel,  schaffen." 


Ill 

ELIPHAZ 

Then   answered   Eliphaz   the  Temanite,   and 
said  : 

''  If  one  essay  a  word  with  thee,  wilt  thou  be 

offended  ?  — 
Yet  who  can  forbear  speaking  ? 


"  Behold,  thou  hast  admonished  many. 

And  thou  hast  strengthened  feeble  hands ;       5 

Chap.  iv.  1-3. 

Eliphaz,  being  the  oldest  and  wisest  of  the  friends,  is  in 
some  sense  their  spokesman,  and  strikes  the  keynote  for  all. 
His  present  speech  goes  over  nearly  the  whole  ground  of  the 
friends'  argument. 

Line  2.  Job  has  paused  in  the  expectation  of  sympathy ; 
he  has  counted  on  this  consolation  at  least  that  friends  are 
around  him,  and  that  they  will  comfort  him.  Instead  of 
sympathy,  however,  he  meets  a  courteous  word  deprecating 
offense,  which  of  course  implies  that  the  speaker  must  as  a 
disagreeable  duty  use  rebuke  and  admonition. 

4.  Behold,  thou  hast  admonished  many.  This  is  true.  Job 
has  heretofore  been  not  only  a  believer  but  a  teacher  of  the 
very  same  doctrine  that  Eliphaz  now  brings  before  him  ;  Eli- 
phaz is  passing  in  review  before  Job  the  latter's  own  philos- 
ophy of  life. 


152  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  III. 

Thy  words  have  confirmed  the  faltering, 
And  bowing  knees  hast  thou  made  strong  ; 
But   now  it    is    come  upon  thee,  —  and  thou 

faintest  ; 
It  toucheth  thee,  and  thou  art  confounded. 

Is  not  thy  piety  thy  confidence  ?  lo 

Thy  hope  —  is  it  not  the  integrity  of  thy  ways  ? 

Bethink  thee  now  :  who  that  was  guiltless 
hath  perished. 
And  where  have  the  upright  been  cut  off  ? 
As  I  have  seen,  —  they  that  plough  iniquity, 

Chap.  iv.  4-8. 

8.  The  ground  of  Eliphaz's  reproach  is  that  Job  fails  to 
apply  his  own  key  of  life  when  the  real  difficulty  comes,  has 
shown  himself  lacking  in  one  of  the  acknowledged  tests  of 
the  philosophic  mind,  see  Proverbs  xxiv.  10.  As  yet  Job  has 
uttered  no  rebellious  word  ;  his  offense  consists  in  being  be- 
wildered, in  not  being  certain  what  it  all  means,  —  a  real  of- 
fense in  the  eyes  of  such  a  sage  as  Eliphaz,  for  it  is  a  virtual 
impeachment  of  the  adequacy  of  the  current  Wisdom. 

10.  The  word  translated //V/j/  is  the  same  that  is  elsewhere 
translated y^^r.  Fear  of  God  and  integrity,  Job's  standard  of 
life  heretofore,  ought  to  be  his  ground  of  confidence  now  ; 
he  ought  to  rest  in  them,  and  believe  that  they  will  receive 
their  natural  reward  in  God's  favor. 

12-15.  As  the  basis  of  his  argument,  Eliphaz  lays  down 
the  universal  law  of  sowing  and  reaping,  making  no  applica- 
tions, but  leaving  Job  to  get  what  comfort  or  warning  he  can 
from  it.  If  Job  is  really  upright,  there  is  a  gleam  of  comfort ; 
the  word  perished^  which  is  the  strongest  Hebrew  word  for 
destruction,  may  leave  the  implication  open  that  at  some 
time  his  suffering  will  be  turned,  and  not  end  in  death.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  most  natural  implication  is  clearly  oppo 


III.  ELIPHAZ  153 

And  that  sow  wickedness,  reap  the  same.        15 

By  the  breath  of  God  they  perish, 

And  by  the  blast  of  His  anger  they  are  con- 
sumed. 

The  lion's  cry,  and  the  voice  of  the  roaring 
lion, 

And  the  teeth  of  the  young  lions,  are  broken. 

The  strong  lion  perisheth  for  lack  of  prey,       20 

And  the  lioness's  whelps  are  scattered  abroad. 


"  To  me  once  a  word  came  stealthily, 
And  mine  ear  caught  the  whisper  of  it. 

Chap.  iv.  8-12. 

site  to  this  ;  for  if  a  man  reaps  what  he  sows,  then  the  fact 
that  he  is  reaping  misery  is  2i.  prima  facie  indication  that  he 
has  somehow  sown  evil.  Ellphaz  and  his  friends  err,  not  in 
their  general  assertions,  which  are  true  enough,  but  in  taking 
too  readily  for  granted  that  Job's  affliction  is  a  reaping. 
Their  theory  of  the  world  is  not  broad  enough  to  make  it 
anything  else,  nor  are  they  humble  enough  to  own  ignorance 
of  its  cause. 

18-21.  Under  the  figure  of  vanquished  lions,  Eliphaz  rep- 
resents that  the  wicked,  however  strong  and  fierce,  must  some 
time  meet  their  overthrow.  It  is  a  rhetorical  amplification 
which  spreads  out  far  beyond  Job's  case ;  his  wickedness,  if 
he  has  any,  is  by  no  means  lionlike. 

22.  Seemingly  aware  that  he  has  left  the  implication  too 
violent,  and  that  indeed  he  must  needs  explain  how  it  is  pos- 
sible that  there  can  be  an  equivalent  in  sin  for  so  much  afflic- 
tion as  Job's,  Ellphaz  relates  a  vision  that  he  once  had,  which 
revealed  to  him  the  innate  and  inevitable  sinfulness  of  the 


I  54  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  III. 

In  wandering  thoughts    from  visions  of    the 

night, 
When  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men,  25 

Fear  came  upon  me,  and  trembUng, 
Which  made  all  my  bones  to  shake. 
Then  a  spirit  glided  before  my  face,  — 
The  hair  of  my  flesh  rose  up,  — 

Chap.  iv.  13-15. 
creature.  On  this  vision  the  author  of  "  Mark  Rutherford  " 
comments  :  "  Eliphaz  is  partly  a  rhetorician,  and,  like  all  per- 
sons with  that  gift,  he  is  frequently  carried  off  his  feet  and 
ceases  to  touch  the  firm  earth.  His  famous  vision  in  the 
night,  which  caused  the  hair  of  his  flesh  to  stand  up,  is  an  ex- 
aggeration, and  does  nothing  but  declare  what  might  as  well 
have  been  declared  without  it,  that  man  is  not  just  in  the 
eyes  of  perfect  purity." 

24.  Wandering  thoughts.  These  two  words  are  necessary 
to  represent  a  single  Hebrew  word.  It  means  the  mingled 
and  confused  thoughts  that  come  without  direction  or  con- 
trol of  the  will.     Delitzsch  \.rz.ns\2i\.ts, geda7ike}ige2virr. 

26.  The  vision,  far  from  involving  Eliphaz's  real  commu- 
nion with  the  supernatural,  was  evidently  neither  sought,  nor 
expected,  nor  enjoyed.  It  came  and  went,  wholly  beyond  his 
will  or  desire  ;  and  simply  left  him  proud  of  having  received 
such  a  communication,  as  if  he  were  a  specially  favored  repos- 
itory of  hidden  truth.  With  this  compare  how  Job  meets  the 
theophany  at  the  end  of  the  book,  and  how  reverent  and 
humble  it  leaves  him. 

28.  Nor  did  the  vision  in  any  sense  bring  God  near.  It 
was  only  a  spirit  that  Eliphaz  saw,  an  intermediate  agency; 
and  even  the  spirit's  words  but  serve  to  remove  God  to  an 
inaccessible  distance.  The  God  here  contemplated  is  the 
God  of  the  cool  theorizer,  not  the  God  of  palpitatmg  human 
life. 


III.  ELIPHAZ         '  155 

It  Stood  still,  but  its  form  I  could  not  discern,  so 

A  figure  before  mine  eyes  ; 

—  Silence  —  and  I  heard  a  voice  : 

*  Shall  mortal  man  be  just  before  God  ? 

Shall  the  strong  man,   before  his  Maker,    be 

pure  ? 
Behold,    in     His     servants    He    putteth    no 

trust,  35 

And  He  imputeth  error  unto  His  angels ; 
How  much  more  them  that  dwell  in  houses  of 

clay. 
Whose  foundation  is  in  the  dust  ; 

Chap.  iv.  16-19. 

30.  "There  is  no  such  weird  passage,"  says  Professor 
Cheyne  of  this  description,  "  in  the  rest  of  the  Old  Testament. 
It  did  not  escape  the  attention  of  Milton,  whose  description 
of  death  alludes  to  it :  — 

'  If  shape  it  could  be  called  that  shape  had  none, 
Distinguishable  in  member,  joint,  or  limb  ; 
Or  substance  might  be  called  that  shadow  seemed.' 

(Par.  Lost,  ii.  266.)" 

37.  The  implication  is,  that  however  a  man  may  seem 
righteous  by  his  own  standard,  by  the  standard  of  God's  un- 
approachable purity  he  must  necessarily  be  corrupt.  Thus 
the  conception  of  justice  and  purity  is  so  sublimated  in  de- 
gree as  to  become  practically  different  in  kind ;  so  unattain- 
able that  man  cannot  choose  but  err,  and  that  any  punish- 
ment inflicted  upon  him  cannot  be  other  than  right.  This 
is  the  beginning  of  that  wholesale  justification  of  God  at 
the  expense  of  facts  and  consciousness,  that  Job  afterward 
detects  and  reproves  (section  viii.  63-76),  and  that  Eliphaz 
finally  reduces  to  an  absurdity  (section  xv.  6-21). 


156  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  HI. 

Who  are  crushed  like  the  moth  ; 

Who  are  beaten  in   pieces  from   morning   to 

evening,  ^^ 

Who,  for  lack  of   one   that  regardeth,  perish 

for  ever. 
Is    not    their   tent-cord   within    them   plucked 

away  ? 
They  die,  and  not  in  wisdom.' 

III. 
"  Call  now  :  is  there  that  answereth  thee } 

Chap.  iv.  19  —  v.  i. 

42.  Their  tent-cord.  A  metaphor  familiar  enough  in  Ori- 
ental countries,  where  life  is  passed  in  tents,  and  where  the 
plucking  away  of  the  cord  that  supports  the  frail  structure 
lays  the  slight  tenement  in  ruins  at  once.  A  striking  image 
of  the  precarious  human  life. 

43.  They  die,  and  not  in  wisdom  ;  a  euphemism  for  dying  in 
misery  and  woe.  To  a  student  of  Hebrew  philosophy,  who 
identifies  goodness  with  wisdom,  and  wickedness  with  folly, 
the  expression  would  be  suggestive. 

The  oracle  of  Eliphaz's  vision  condemns  all  men  alike,  not 
because  they  are  sinners  merely,  but  because  they  are  crea- 
tures, and  especially,  mortal  creatures.  Job's  consciousness 
of  rectitude  has  no  word  to  say  in  the  matter  ;  under  such  a 
judgment  his  only  recourse  would  be  to  call  himself  a  sinner, 
and  to  call  his  punishment  just,  and  this  his  honesty  with 
himself  will  not  let  him  do. 

44.  Eliphaz  thinks  a  good  deal  of  his  vision  ;  for  the  fact 
that  he  is  the  recipient  of  supernatural  communications  is  to 
him  evidence  that  he  is  in  the  way  of  true  insight  into  the 
deeps  of  life.  To  this  happy  condition  he  now  contrasts  Job's 
forlorn   case,  by  challenging  the  latter  to  obtain  a  similar 


III.  ELIPHAZ  157 

And    unto    whom,    of    the    holy,    wilt    thou 

turn  ?  45 

Nay,  rather,  anger  destroyeth  the  foolish  man, 

Chap.  v.  i,  2. 

oracle  ;  implying  that  Job,  not  being,  so  to  speak,  in  the 
circuit  of  mystic  communication,  is  therefore  not  in  the  way 
of  God's  favor.  Eliphaz  attributes  this,  as  line  46  implies, 
to  Job's  anger  at  God's  dealings,  which  shuts  his  heart  to 
celestial  visitants  ;  his  idea  being  evidently  somewhat  like 
Tennyson's,  in  In  Memoriam,  xciv.:  — 

"  In  vain  shalt  thou,  or  any,  call 

The  spirits  from  their  golden  day, 
Except,  like  them,  thou  too  canst  say, 
My  spirit  is  at  peace  with  all.  .  .  . 

"  But  when  the  heart  is  full  of  din. 
And  doubt  beside  the  portal  waits, 
They  can  but  listen  at  the  gates, 
And  hear  the  household  jar  within." 

45.  The  holy,  —  that  is,  probably,  angelic  spirits,  sons  of 
God,  such  as  are  mentioned,  section  i.  22,  89 ;  for  there  is  no 
evidence  that  Eliphaz  had  any  conception  of  spirits  of  de- 
parted saints. 

46.  Still  carefully  avoiding  any  direct  accusation  of  Job, 
Eliphaz  deprecates  that  anger  which  not  only  closes  the  spir- 
itual ear,  but,  so  to  say,  burns  out  the  life,  disintegrates  the 
inner  man.  It  is  as  a  diligent  student  of  spiritual  things, 
who  has  reached  the  secret  of  life  in  calm,  that  Eliphaz 
speaks.  At  the  same  time  it  is  evident  that  his  soul  has 
never  been  ploughed  by  affliction,  as  Job's  is  ;  for  if  it  had 
been,  he  would  not  speak  so  dispassionately,  almost  lightly, 
of  Job's  profound  disturbance,  as  if  it  were  mere  vexation  or 
fretfulness,  which  he  should  school  himself  to  avoid.  Eli- 
phaz's  use  of  the  word  anger  evidently  stings  Job ;  it  is  the 
only  word  that  Job  takes  up  and  answers,  section  iv.  2,  when 
he  speaks  again. 


158  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  III. 

And  the  simple  are  slain  by  passion. 
I  myself  saw  a  foolish  man  taking  root, 
But  straightway  I  cursed  his  habitation. 
His  children  are  far  from  succor  ;  so 

And  they  are  crushed  in  the  gate, 
And  there  is  none  to  deliver. 
Whose  harvest  the  hungry  man  devoureth, 
And  taketh  it  even  from  the  thorns, 
And  the  snare  gapeth  for  their  substance.        55 
For  evil  goeth  not  forth  from  the  dust, 

Chap.  v.  2-6. 

48.  Taking  root, — that  is,  becoming  settled  in  life  and 
prosperity,  in  seeming  exception  to  the  rule  that  anger  and 
passion  are  disintegrating  forces. 

49.  I  cursed  his  habitation  ;  —  that  is,  his  dwelling-place  was 
desolated  so  suddenly  that  I  recognized  it  as  blasted  by  the 
judgment  of  God.  These  words  seem  to  refer  to  some  old 
custom  of  cursing  where  God  has  evidently  set  the  marks  of 
His  wrath  ;  and  indeed,  does  not  the  friends'  whole  treatment 
of  Job  {compare  section  i.  138,  note)  illustrate  the  same 
spirit  ? 

51.  The  gate  of  an  Eastern  city  was  the  place  where  justice 
was  administered,  or  counsel  obtained ;  but  to  these  whom 
Eliphaz  describes  it  is  no  refuge,  because  their  oppressors,  or 
perhaps  their  rightful  accusers,  are  so  numerous  and  over- 
whelming. 

54.  In  his  greedy  hunger  he  gleans  even  the  last  stray  ears 
of  the  harvest  from  the  thorn-hedges  that  surround  the  fields. 

56-59.  Drawing  a  lesson  from  the  seemingly  hard  fate  of 
the  "foolish"  man,  but  with  a  strong  implication  for  Job, 
Eliphaz  maintains  that  the  cause  of  our  evils  and  afflictions  is 
to  he  sought,  not  in  the  world  outside  of  us,  nor  in  the  acci- 
dents of  time,  but  in  our  own  nature,  in  antecedents  as  rigid 


III.  ELIPHAZ  1 59 

Nor  is  it  from  the  ground  that  trouble  spring- 

eth; 
For  man  is  born  to  trouble, 
As  the  sons  of  the  flame  fly  aloft. 

IV. 

"  But  I,  I  would  seek  unto  God,  eo 

Chap.  v.  6-8. 

as  birth  and  heredity.  The  assertion  that  man  is  born  to 
trouble,  as  to  an  inevitable  fate,  does  not  hang  together  very 
logically  w^ith  Eliphaz's  other  doctrines,  nor  with  his  glowing 
promises  to  Job.  The  author  of  "  Mark  Rutherford  "  says, 
"  A  certain  want  of  connection  and  pertinence  is  observable 
in  him.  A  man  who  is  made  up  of  what  he  hears  or  reads 
always  lacks  unity  and  directness.  Confronted  by  any  diffi- 
culty or  by  any  event  which  calls  upon  him,  he  answers,  not 
by  an  operation  of  his  intellect  on  what  is  immediately  before 
him,  but  by  detached  remarks  which  he  has  collected,  and 
which  are  never  a  fused  homogeneous  whole.  In  conversa- 
tion he  is  the  same,  and  will  first  propound  one  irrelevant 
principle  and  then  another,  —  the  one,  however,  not  leading  to 
the  other,  and  sometimes  contradicting  it,"  It  is  this  lack  of 
relevance  and  sequence,  possibly,  which  Job  has  in  mind  in 
his  reply  (section  iv.  50,  51)  when  he  calls  for  "forthright 
words." 

59.  Sons  of  the  flame^—  that  is,  sparks.  This  fine  Hebrew 
metaphor  is  worth  perpetuating  in  a  literal  translation. 

60  sqq.  In  directing  Job  to  God,  Eliphaz  leaves  his  rather 
rhetorical  remarks  so  vague  and  general  in  their  application 
that  Job  takes  up  the  same  line  of  truth  in  a  subsequent  speech 
(section  vi.  2-35),  and  turns  it  in  a  quite  different  direction. 
The  couplet  lines  62,  d^  Job  quotes  almost  verbatim  in  sec- 
tion vi.  18,  19,  where  see  note. 


l6o  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  III. 

And  unto  the  Mightiest  would  I  commit  my 

cause  ; 
Who  doeth  great  things,  and  unsearchable, 
Marvelous  things,  and  that  without  number. 
Who  giveth  rain  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,    64 
And  sendeth  water  upon  the  face  of  the  fields  ; 
To  set  the  lowly  in  a  high  place, 
And  mourners  are  exalted  to  safety. 
He   bringeth   to   nought   the   devices  of   the 

crafty, 
That  their  hands  can  accompUsh  nothing  real. 
He  ensnareth  the  wise  in  their  own  cunning,  70 
And  the  counsel  of    the  subtile  overreacheth 

itself. 
They  meet  with  darkness  in  the  daytime, 

Chap.  v.  8-14. 

61.  The  common  Hebrew  word  for  God,  Elohim,  is  de- 
rived from  a  root  meaning  mighty.  As  the  word  in  line  6i  is 
the  plural  of  the  word  for  God  in  the  previous  line,  it  would 
seem  to  be  intended  both  as  a  variation  and  as  a  climax  on 
the  other  name  ;  hence  the  translation  adopted  here. 

69.  A  recognition  of  the  logic  of  events,  which  makes  all 
endeavors  not  in  the  current  of  truth  and  righteousness,  how- 
ever for  a  time  they  may  seem  to  prosper,  to  pass  away  into 
unreality,  being  annulled  or  overruled  for  good. 

The  word  translated  [no]  "  thing  real "  is  one  of  the  most 
abstract  words  in  Hebrew,  and  seems  to  have  been  a  philo- 
sophical term  evolved  by  the  Hebrew  Wisdom.  It  is  some- 
times equivalent  to  truth,  sometimes  to  reality.  The  evolu- 
tion of  this  term  indicates  considerable  age  and  maturity  in 
the  Wisdom  philosophy  when  this  book  was  written. 


III.  ELIPHAZ  l6l 

And  at  noontide  they  grope  as  in  the  night. 
So  from  the  sword,  from  their  mouth, 
And  from  the  hand  of  the  strong,  —  He  rescii- 
eth  the  needy.  75 

So  there  is  hope  for  the  weak. 
And  iniquity  shutteth  her  mouth. 

V. 

"Behold,  blessed  is  the  man  whom  God  cor- 

recteth  ; 
Therefore  despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of 

the  Almighty. 
For  He  it  is  that  woundeth  and  bindeth  up ;  so 
He  bruiseth,  and  His  hands  make  whole. 
In  six  troubles  shall  He  deliver  thee, 
And  in  seven  shall  no  evil  touch  thee. 
In  famine  He  shall  redeem  thee  from  death, 
And  in  war  from  the  power  of  the  sword.        ss 

Chap.  v.  14-20. 

78.  In  this  strophe,  in  which  the  present  section  reaches 
its  most  rhetorical  and  beautiful  expression,  Eliphaz  antici- 
pates the  doctrine  of  God's  chastening,  which  Elihu  after- 
wards carries  out  to  greater  length.  True  as  it  is  in  the  ab- 
stract, it  errs  in  presupposing  Job  as  needing  to  be  restored 
and  corrected  by  chastisement.  Here  is  the  sticking-point 
with  Job.  He  is  not  conscious  of  a  sinfulness  that  merits 
such  extremity  of  punishment,  and  he  is  too  honest  with  him- 
self to  acknowledge  such  sin.  So  the  chastisement  does  not 
chasten  ;  and  Eliphaz's  words  are  in  effect  urging  Job  to 
purchase  God's  favor  by  an  insincere  confession. 


1 62  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  III. 

When  the  tongue  scourgeth  thou  shalt  be  hid, 
Nor  shalt  thou  be  afraid  of  devastation  when 

it  Cometh. 
At  devastation  and  dearth  thou  shalt  laugh  ; 
Nor  hast  thou  aught  to  fear  from  the  beast  of 

the  earth. 
For  thou  hast  a  league  with  the  stones  of  the 
field,  90 

And  the  beasts  of  the  field  shall  be  at  peace 

with  thee. 
And  thou  shalt  know  that  thy  tent  is  peace, 
Shalt  review  thy  household,  and  miss  nothing. 
Thou  shalt  know  also  that  thy  seed  is  numer- 
ous, 
And  thine  offspring  as  the  grass  of  the  earth.  95 
Thou  shalt  go  to  the  grave  in  a  ripe  old  age. 
As  the  sheaf  is  garnered  in,  in  its  season. 

Chap.  v.  21-26. 

89-91.  Eliphaz  has  a  profound  idea  of  the  harmony  of  man 
with  nature ;  all  things  animate  and  inanimate  strike  hands 
in  the  covenant  of  the  righteous  with  God. 

92  sqq.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  supreme  blessing  here 
contemplated  by  Eliphaz  is  essentially  the  restoration  of 
Job's  former  state,  the  blessing  of  prosperity  and  peace  and 
long  life  and  numerous  offspring.  After  such  blessings  Job 
does  not  seem  to  seek  ;  one  result  of  his  suffering  is  that  all 
other  desires  give  way  in  time  to  the  supreme  longing  for 
God's  presence.  It  is  in  this  longing  that  Job  disappoints 
Satan  and  leaves  his  friends  far  behind;  such  pure  aspiration 
they  neither  cherish  nor  appreciate. 

96,  97.  In  these  lines  Eliphaz  promises  Job  what  actually 


III. 


ELIPHAZ  163 


VL 


*'  Lo,  this  ;  we  have  searched  it  out ;  so  it  is  ; 
Hear  it,  and  know  thou  ;  it  is  for  thee." 

Chap.  v.  27. 
comes  to  pass.  Other  promises,  too,  made  by  the  friends  on 
the  condition  of  Job's  confession  of  sin  (see,  for  "i^tan^^' 
section  V.  11-14;  vii.  31-33;  xv.  5^.  58.  59),  and  fulfilled 
thou-h  he  continues  to  assert  his  righteousness,  demonstrate 
the  poetic  justice  of  his  restoration,  as  recorded  m  the  Epi- 

^°  qT'  Lo,  this  ;  we  have  searched  it  out.  Eliphaz  speaks  doubt- 
less for  all  the  students  of  wisdom;  and  this  speech  of  his, 
so  strangely  lacking  in  application,  and  seeming  to  coiatam  so 
many  presuppositions  of  Job's  case,  may  be  so  merely  as  be- 
ing a  review  of  the  Wisdom  philosophy.  In  it  we  find  men  s 
highest  interpretation  of  life,  as  held  in  Job's  day  an  inter- 
p rotation  heretofore  shared  by  the  patriarch  ^--If  unU^^his 
very  affliction,  with  its  passionate  discoveries  of  faith,  earned 
men's  thoughts  to  a  reach  higher  stiU. 


IV 

JOB 

And  Job  answered,  and  said  : 


"  Oh  that  mine  '  anger '  were  weighed,  were 
weighed, 

And,  laid  in  the  balances  against  it,  my  wretch- 
edness ! 

For  so  it  would  be  heavier  than  the  sand  of  the 
seas ; 

Therefore  it  is,  my  words  have  been  rash.         s 

For  the  arrows  of  Shaddai  are  within  me, 

Chap.  vi.  1-4. 

Line  2.  The  "  anger  "  that  Eliphaz  has  deprecated,  section 
iii.  46  (see  note  there),  Job  justifies,  by  referring  to  the  unex- 
plained visitation  that  compels  it.  Looking  into  his  affliction 
honestly,  and  interpreting  it  according  to  the  only  data  he 
has,  as  God's  especial  displeasure,  he  sees  only  too  much 
reason  for  being  profoundly  disturbed  and  embittered  in  soul. 
He  is  slow,  however,  to  push  his  misery  to  its  personal 
Source ;  it  is  not  until  line  83  that  he  can  gird  himself  up  to 
brave  his  reverential  piety  and  address  a  remonstrance  to 
God  Himself. 

6.  Shaddai,  —  the    word   elsewhere    translated    "  the    Al- 


IV.  JOB  165 

Whose  poison  my  spirit  drinketh  up  ; 
God's  terrors  are  in  war-array  against  me. 

Doth  the  wild  ass  bray  over  the  fresh  grass  ? 
Or  loweth  the  ox  over  his  fodder  ?  10 

Can  it  be  eaten  —  what  is  tasteless,  unsalted  ? 

Chap.  vi.  4-6. 
mighty;"  a  semi-poetic  name  of  God,  used  more  frequently 
in  Job  than  in  other  books  of  the  Bible.  Job  seems  thrown 
back  for  the  time,  by  his  affliction,  to  the  conception  of  God 
as  mere  power ;  he  cannot  trace  motive  or  design  in  such  a 
visitation ;  to  him  God  is  the  Almighty  One,  who  without 
giving  a  reason  does  with  mortal  man  as  He  will. 

8.  In jwar-array .  This  is  Job's  most  frequent  figure  of 
God's  attitude  toward  him  ;  see  section  vi.  107  ;  xii.  22-24. 
He  feels  himself  besieged  by  mysterious  thronging  hosts. 

9  sqq.  The  trenchant  interrogations  fit  well  with  the  in- 
tensity of  Job's  emotion,  quite  in  contrast  to  the  leisurely 
amplifying  rhetoric  of  Eliphaz.  See  note,  section  iii.  56-59. 
"  The  sixth  and  seventh  chapters,"  says  the  author  of  "  Mark 
Rutherford,"  "  are  molten  from  end  to  end,  and  run  in  one 
burning  stream." 

9.  Job  is  not  crying  out  for  nothing ;  if  things  were  as  they 
should  be,  or  even  as  explicable  as  Eliphaz  would  make  out, 
he  would  not  complain.  There  is  a  mystery  in  his  affliction 
that  no  interpretation  has  touched. 

II.  The  thought  of  the  rich,  toothsome  food  over  which 
the  beasts  are  content  rouses  by  contrast  the  thought  of  the 
spiritual  food  that  is  set  before  Job.  Eliphaz  has  passed  in 
review  the  Wisdom  philosophy  before  him,  and  here  is  his 
judgment  upon  it :  it  is  insipid,  like  tasteless,  unsalted  food. 
Not  that  Eliphaz's  words  are  untrue :  they  simply  do  not 
reach  Job's  case,  do  not  find  him,  — 

"  And  common  is  the  commonplace, 
And  vacant  chaff  well  meant  for  grain." 

Job's  new  experience  needs  some  new  view  of  truth  to  ex- 


1 66  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  IV. 

Or  is  there  savor  in  the  white  of  an  Q%g  ? 

My  soul  refuseth  to  touch  ! 

They  are  as  loathsome  food  to  me. 

II. 

**  Oh  that  my  request  might  come,  is 

And  that  God  would  grant  my  longing  ! 
That  it  would  please  God  to  crush  me, 
That  He  would  loose  His  hand  and  cut  me  off. 
For  then  it  would  still  be  my  comfort,  — 
Yea,  I  should  exult  in  pain,  though  He  spare 

not,  —  20 

That  I  have  not  denied  the  words  of  the  Holy 

One. 
What  is  my  strength,  that  I  should  endure  } 
And  what  mine  end,  that  I  should  be  patient  ? 

Chap.  vi.  6-ii. 

plain  it,  some  vitalized  interpretation  to  which  his  awakened 
soul  can  answer. 

17.  Job's  anguish,  spiritual  and  physical,  is  suggestively  in- 
dicated in  that  strong  word  crush.     What  a  wish  ! 

19-21.  In  these  words  we  read  the  strength  of  Job's  loy- 
alty. The  allegiance  to  what  is  godlike  is  the  root  even  of 
his  longing  for  death  ;  he  wishes  to  be  cut  off  before  tempta- 
tion has  overcome  him,  to  preserve  his  integrity  intact  even 
at  the  expense  of  life.  This,  after  his  wife  has  exhorted  him 
to  "  curse  God  and  die." 

22.  This  note  of  self-distrust,  as  Job  looks  forward  to  a  life 
of  pain,  deepens  our  sense  of  his  heroic  loyalty.  To  be  pa- 
tient without  any  outlook,  to  endure  without  divine  support, 
—  Job  does  not  promise  it,  and  he  trembles  at  the  prospect  ; 
but  none  the  less  he  sets  his  feet  on  the  toilsome  way. 


IV.  JOB  167 

Is  my  strength  the  strength  of  stones  ? 

Is  my  flesh  of  brass  ?  25 

Nay,  is  not  my  help  within  me  gone, 

And  well-being  driven  away  from  me  ? 

III. 

"  Kindness  from  his  friend  is  due  to  the  de- 
spairing, 
Who  is  losing  hold  of  the  fear  of  the  Almighty. 
My  brethren  are  deceitful,  like  a  brook,  30 

Like  the  channel  of  brooks  that  pass  away  ; 
Which  are  turbid  by  reason  of  ice  ; 

Chap.  vi.  12-16. 

27.  Well-being,  —  the  word  elsewhere  translated  "reality" 
or  "  truth ;  "  see  note,  section  iii.  69.  Does  Job  mean  that 
he  has  lost  the  clue  to  the  truth,  the  reality  of  things,  so  that 
even  patience  and  endurance  may  have  no  significance  .'* 

28.  It  is  from  this  view  of  friendship  that  the  way  begins  to 
diverge  by  which  Job  arrives  in  time  to  a  point  wholly  oppo- 
site to  theirs,  where  he  is  fully  fixed  by  faith  on  God ;  see 
section  x.  45,  46 ;  xii.  25-56.  That  God  has  afflicted  him  is 
no  reason  why  friendship  should  be  withdrawn ;  rather  he 
needs  friends  the  more  as  he  feels  himself  slipping  away  from 
his  old  moorings  in  God.  He  desires  simply  that  their  natural 
affection  remain  undisturbed  by  what  they  see  of  his  disease, 
and  be  kept  faithful  to  his  essential  righteousness. 

30.  But  they  are  not  to  be  trusted  to  keep  friendship  in 
such  adversity  as  this.  Like  a  brook ;  the  simile  derives  its 
suggestiveness  from  the  Oriental  brooks,  or  wadies,  which  in 
a  rainy  season  suddenly  become  torrents,  and  in  the  dry  sea- 
son disappear  utterly.  In  the  time  of  thirst,  when  they  are 
most  needed,  they  are  least  trustworthy. 


1 68  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  IV. 

Whereon  the  snow  falling  hideth  itself. 

What   time    heat    toucheth    them,   they   van- 
ish ; 

When  it  is  hot,  they  are  dried  up  out  of  their 
place.  -35 

The  wayfarers  along  their  course  are  turned 
aside  ; 

They  go  up  into  the  wastes,  and  perish. 

The  caravans  of  Tenia  looked  ; 

The  companies  of  Sheba  set  their  hope  upon 
them  ; 

They  were  ashamed  because  they  had  trusted  ; 

They  reached  the  spot,  and  were  dismayed.     41 

See  now,  —  ye  are  just  like  that ; 

Ye  have  seen  a  terror,  and  are  confounded. 
Is  it  because  I  have  said.  Give  to  me } 

Chap.  vi.  16-22. 

33.  One  is  reminded  of  Burns's  familiar  lines,  — 

"  Or  like  the  snow  falls  in  the  river, 
A  moment  white  —  then  melts  for  ever.-' 

39.  The  compa7iies  of  Sheba,  —  the  same  people  is  referred 
to  as  the  Sabseans,  mentioned  in  section  i.  55. 

43.  The  terror  that  the  friends  have  seen  is  the  awful  spec- 
tacle of  God's  hand  working  His  wrath  in  Job's  leprosy ;  and 
it  confounds  them  because  they  suppose  they  must  put  their 
condemnation  where  God  has  put  His  displeasure  ;  compare 
note,  section  iii.  49.  Recall  also  how  they  were  taken  aback 
when  they  saw  Job's  affliction,  section  i.  138;  see  note  there. 
Their  friendship,  instead  of  being  spontaneous  and  natural, 
as  Job  desires,  is  at  the  mercy  of  their  theology. 

44.  Job's  plea  for  sympathy  is  the  more  reasonable  because 
kindness  costs  them  nothing ;  it  is  simply  following  nature. 


IV.  JOB  169 

Or,  Bestow  of  your  wealth  for  my  sake  ?  45 

Or,  Deliver  me  from  the  hand  of  the  enemy, 
And  from  the  oppressor's  hand  redeem  me  ? 

Teach  me,  and  I  will  hold  my  tongue  ; 
And  make  me  understand  wherein  I  have  erred. 
How  cogent  are  forthright  words  !  so 

But  your  upbraiding  —  what  doth  it  prove  } 
Do  ye  think  to  censure  words, 
When  they  are  a  despairing  man's  words  to  the 

wind  ? 
Nay,  ye  would  even  cast  lots  for  the  orphan. 
And  make  traffic  over  your  friend.  55 

But  now,  be  pleased  to  look  upon  me, 

Chap.  vi.  22-28. 

50.  Forthright  words,  words  that  go  straight  to  their  mark, 
without  evasion  or  covered  meaning,  are  what  Job,  true  to 
the  universal  experience  of  affliction,  longs  for ;  and  against 
such  he  contrasts  what  to  his  sick  sensitiveness  seems  their 
"upbraiding,"  or  perhaps  we  might  render  it  their  "  insinua- 
tions." He  is  irritated  because  they  speak  in  vague  and  gen- 
eral terms,  begging  the  question  of  his  guilt,  and  yet  making 
nothing  pointed  and  clear  ;  see  note,  section  iii.  56-59. 

53.  Job  feels  that  the  words  pressed  from  him  by  pain  are 
no  conclusive  index  of  his  true  self.  They  are  but  "  words 
to  the  wind  ;  "  and  to  found  a  reproof  on  such  indications  is 
to  him  the  extremity  of  heartlessness. 

55.  In  his  anguish  Job  states  his  friends'  hardness  with 
cutting  strength,  and  doubtless  hyperbolically  ;  yet  is  not 
their  ignoring  of  truth  for  the  sake  of  a  theory,  and  their 
haste  to  sacrifice  friendship  in  order  to  get  on  the  right  side 
of  God,  equivalent  in  a  sense  to  "  making  traffic  "  over  their 
friend  "i  f 


I/O  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  IV. 

And  surely  I  will  not  lie  to  your  face. 
Return,  I  pray  ;  let  there  be  no  hardness  ; 
Yea,  return  ;  —  I  am  still  righteous  therein. 
Is  there  perverseness  in  my  tongue  .?  eo 

Cannot  my  taste  discern  what  is  wicked } 

Chap.  vi.  2S-30. 

57.  Will  not  lie,  —  that  is,  he  will  not  represent  himself  be- 
fore them  as  he  is  not ;  his  sin  and  his  integrity  will  alike  be 
open  and  manifest,  to  be  recognized  as  they  are.  Their  con- 
duct toward  him  virtually  assumes  that  all  his  professions  of 
righteousness  are  lying,  —  disproved,  that  is,  by  his  leprosy. 

58.  Kctur7i,  —  that  is,  from  their  coldness  and  suspicion  to 
the  confidence  that  they  had  in  him  before  his  affliction  ;  be 
just  to  the  facts  that  they  have  always  seen.  It  is  a  plea  to 
be  held  innocent  until  he  is  proved  guilty. 

Hardness,  —  the  same  word  translated  perverseness  in  1.  60. 
It  seems  to  refer  to  that  warped,  twisted,  perverted  mind  due 
to  prejudice  and  bigotry  ;  and  Job's  plea  is  a  plea  for  candor. 

61.  My  taste,  literally  my  palate,  meaning  here,  not  the  aes- 
thetic sense  that  we  associate  with  taste,  but  spiritual  sense 
and  insight.  Job  avers  that  his  spiritual  sense  is  not  blunted  ; 
that  when  he  says  he  is  righteous  it  is  from  a  real  discern- 
ment, as  keen  and  true  as  it  ever  was,  of  good  and  evil. 
Both  Job  and  the  friends  recognize  that  one's  spiritual  dis- 
cernment of  truth  may  be  impaired  or  destroyed,  so  that  evil 
and  good  may  cease  to  appear  in  their  real  guise  ;  and  Job  is 
evidently  solicitous  to  keep  this  fine  sense  intact  in  all  his 
affliction ;  see  section  viii.  23,  24 ;  x.  40 ;  xix.  4,  5.  He 
comes  to  see  clearly  after  a  while  that  the  friends'  spiritual 
insight  is  not  true ;  see  section  x.  59,  60,  70 ;  and  Eliphaz 
likewise  seems  to  think  thatyi?/;  has  blinded  himself  by  sin,  — 
see  section  xv.  20.  Which  party  has  the  real  "  perverseness  " 
will  appear  in  the  final  event. 


IV.  JOB  171 

IV. 

"  Hath  not  man  a  hard  service  on  the  earth  ? 
And  are  not  his  days  as  the  days  of  a  hireling  ? 
As  the  servant,  who  panteth  for  the  shadow,  64 
And  as  the  hirehng,  who  longeth  for  his  wages, 
So  I  am  made  heir  to  months  of  wretchedness, 
And  nights  of  distress  are  doled  out  to  me. 
When  I  lie  down  I  say,  How  long  till  I  arise  ! 
And  the  evening  stretcheth  itself  out, 
And  I  am  wearied  with  tossings  till  the  dawn. 
My  flesh  is  clothed  with  worms  and  crusts  of 
earth ;  71 

Chap.  vii.  1-5. 

62.  Job's  affliction  opens  his  heart  to  sympathize  with  all 
who  suffer,  and  with  mankind  in  general,  whose  lot  is  a  hard 
one ;  and  thus  he  feels  himself  a  representative  of  humanity. 
We  are  reminded  of  Tennyson's  similar  use  of  his  sorrow  to 
broaden  his  sympathy  in  In  Memoriam,  xcix. :  — 

"  O  wheresoever  those  may  be, 

Betwixt  the  slumber  of  the  poles, 
To-day  they  count  as  kindred  souls  ; 
They  know  me  not,  but  mourn  with  me." 

A  hard  service  ;  —  the  Hebrew  word  refers  to  such  a  service 
as  a  soldier  has  to  fulfill  ;  a  war-fare,  war-service. 

64.  For  the  shadcnv,  —  that  is,  on  the  sun-dial,  the  shadow 
that  indicates  the  time  to  cease  work. 

66.  This  would  seem  to  imply,  what  is  likely  enough,  that 
a  considerable  time  had  elapsed  from  the  beginning  of  his 
affliction  to  the  coming  of  the  friends.  See  note,  section 
i.  127. 

67.  Doled  07it,  slowly  and  reluctantly,  as  it  were,  every  one 
counting  for  its  utmost  in  pain. 


172  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  IV. 

My  skin  closeth  up,  and  breaketh  out  afresh. 
My  days  are  swifter  than  a  weaver's  shuttle ; 
And   they  are   consumed  away,  without    any 

hope. 
Remember  Thou,  that  my  life  is  a  breath  ;  75 
Never  again  shall  mine  eye  see  good. 
The  eye  of  him  that  looketh  after  me  shall  not 

espy  me  ; 
Thine  eyes  will  seek  me,  —  and  I  am  not. 
The  cloud  vanisheth  away,  and  is  gone ; 
So  he  that  goeth  down  to  Sheol  shall  not  come 

up  again ;  so 

Chap.  vii.  5-9. 

71,  72.  These  lines  describe  what  are  said  to  be  verita- 
ble characteristics  of  elephantiasis,  or  black  leprosy.  The 
"  crusts  of  earth  "  refer  to  the  hardened  ash-colored  scab  that 
forms  over  the  sores. 

73.  To  look  back  upon,  and  in  comparison  with  their  fruit- 
lessness  of  result,  his  hopeless  days  seem  very  short,  however 
irksome  in  the  passing.  Perhaps  they  seem  so  short  because 
he  has  "  taken  wings  of  foresight  "  and  can  look  upon  them 
as  it  were  from  a  distance,  or  in  the  large  view  which  we  ap- 
ply to  the  sum  total  of  human  life  in  general.  He  identifies 
himself  with  the  race. 

75.  The  thought  of  his  brief  life  and  its  hopelessness  gives 
him  the  first  impulse  to  address  himself  directly  to  God, 
though  not  at  first  with  remonstrance.  It  is  his  first  approach 
to  that  mystery  of  death,  the  idea  of  which  plays  such  a  large 
part  in  the  achievements  of  his  faith  throughout  the  poem. 
See  Introductory  Study,  p.  56. 

So.  Sheol^  —  the  Hebrew  word  designating  the  unseen 
abode  of  the  dead ;  a  neutral  word  presupposing  neither  mis- 


IV.  JOB  173 

Never  again  shall  he  return  to  his  house, 
Nor  shall  his  place  know  him  any  more. 

V. 

*'  So  therefore  I,  I  will  not  restrain  my  mouth  ; 

I  will  speak  in  the  anguish  of  my  spirit ; 

I  will  complain  in  the  bitterness  of  my  soul.  85 

Am  I  a  sea,  or  a  monster  of  the  deep, 
That  Thou  settest  a  watch  over  me } 
When  I  say,  My  bed  shall  comfort  me, 
My  couch  shall  help  me  bear  my  complaints,  — 

Chap.  vii.  10-13. 

ery  nor  happiness,  and  not  infrequently  used  much  as  we  use 
the  words  "the  grave,"  to  denote  the  final  undefined  resting- 
place  of  all. 

83.  Face  to  face  with  death,  as  the  utmost  that  suffering 
can  do,  Job  resolves  to  speak  out  what  is  in  him.  *'  It  is 
stated  by  Dr.  Livingstone,  the  celebrated  explorer  of  Africa, 
that  the  blow  of  a  lion's  paw  upon  his  shoulder,  which  was 
so  severe  as  to  break  his  arm,  completely  annihilated  fear." 
Job's  trembling  solicitude  lest  he  should  "  lose  hold  of  the  fear 
of  the  Almighty  "  (compare  section  ii.  51-54  ;  iv.  29)  is  passing 
away  as  he  faces  death,  and  in  its  place  is  rising  a  boldness 
before  God  which  mounts  in  his  next  speech  to  the  amazing 
height  of  his  everlasting  No ;  see  section  vi.  70-85,  and  note 
thereon.  It  is  a  time  for  nothing  but  utter  honesty  with  self 
and  with  God. 

86.  Am  la  sea? — that  is,  one  of  the  great  objects  or 
forces  of  nature,  on  which  supposably  God  must  exert  tran- 
scendent power,  to  tame  or  restrain  it.  His  suffering,  which 
of  course  he  has  to  refer  to  God,  seems  out  of  all  proportion 
to  his  own  importance ;  why  such  attention  to  a  creature  so 
insignificant } 


174  ^-^-^  BOOK  OF  JOB  IV. 

Then  Thou  scarest  me  with  dreams,  90 

And  with  visions  dost  Thou  terrify  me. 

So  that  my  soul  chooseth  strangling, 

Yea,  death,  rather  than  these  my  bones. 

I  am  filled  with  loathing ;  let  me  not  live  al- 

way ; 
Cease  from  me  ;  for  my  days  are  a  breath.       95 
What  is  mortal  man,  that  Thou  magnifiest 

him. 
And  that  Thou  settest  Thy  thought  upon  him  } 
That  Thou  visitest  him  every  morning, 
And  every  moment  dost  try  him  } 
How  long  wilt  Thou  not  look  away  from  me,  100 
Nor  let  me  alone  till  I  swallow  my  spittle } 
If  I  have  sinned,  what  could  I  do  unto  Thee  t 

Chap.  vii.  14-20. 

90.  Even  sleep,  filled  as  it  is  with  the  vivid  and  distressing 
dreams  of  sickness,  fails  to  bring  oblivion  of  pain.  Blake 
illustrates  this  verse  by  a  figure  of  Satan  hovering  in  the 
guise  of  God  over  Job's  couch. 

93.  These  my  bones,  —  referring  to  his  emaciation,  one  of 
the  marks  of  his  disease,  which  left  him  a  skeleton. 

96.  A  reminiscence  of  Psalm  viii.  4,  in  a  kind  of  "  bitter 
parody,"  as  it  has  been  called.  For  whereas  in  the  psalm 
the  feeling  is  grateful  wonder  that  God,  the  Creator  of  the 
worlds,  should  condescend  to  such  a  lowly  creature  as  man, 
here  the  feeling  is  perplexity  that  the  same  great  God  should 
be  so  relentless  in  pursuing  man  with  affliction. 

101.  Till  I  swallcnv  my  spittle, — that  is,  the  smallest  ap- 
preciable time.     Probably  an  expression  in  common  use. 

102.  The  greatness  of  Job's  punishment,  so  far  beyond 
what  natural  and  spiritual  law  can  explain  or  demand,  gives 


IV.  JOB  175 

Watcher  of  men,  wherefore  hast  Thou  set  rne 
as  Thy  mark  ? 

So  that  I  am  become  a  burden  to  myself  ? 

And  why  wilt  Thou  not  pardon  my  transgres- 
sion, 105 

And  take  away  mine  iniquity  ? 

For  now  I  shall  sleep  in  the  dust, 

And  Thou  wilt  seek  for  me,  —  and  I  am  not." 

Chap.  vii.  20,  21. 

this  visitation  the  look  of  vindictiveness,  as  if  God  were  mak- 
ing some  conduct  of  Job  a  personal  matter ;  so  the  question 
what  Job  could  possibly  do  to  injure  God  is  not  unnaturally 
suggested.  A  question  that  in  the  abstract  men  had  pon- 
dered and  answered;  see  section  xv.  2-5;  xxiv.  8-15,  and 
compare  Psalm  xvi.  2,  3.  The  distance  between  God  and 
men  is  so  vast  that  neither  can  sin  injure  nor  righteousness 
benefit  Him,  — 

"  For  merit  lives  from  man  to  man, 
And  not  from  man,  O  Lord,  to  Thee." 

.In  this  idea  of  God,  as  throned  high  above  the  creature's 
merits  and  sins,  Job  and  the  friends  are  not  as  yet  at  issue  ;  but 
the  latter  acquiesce  in  it  as  a  necessity  of  the  creature's  lowli- 
ness and  impurity  (see  section  iii.  35,  36;  ix.  26-31  ;  xvii.  6,  7), 
while  they  make  sin  a  natural,  self-punishing  thing  (compare 
section  iii.  14,  15)  :  Job,  on  the  other  hand,  turns  straight  to 
God,  seeking  for  light,  interpretation,  communion,  while  he 
mourns  over  His  remoteness  (section  ii.  47,  48),  and  cannot 
rest  until  he  has  come  to  see  God  as  He  is  (xxix.  10). 

105.  Job  seems  to  claim  pardon  almost  indignantly,  as  if  it 
were  a  right.  Even  the  God  who  will  by  no  means  acquit 
(see  Exodus  xxxiv.  7)  may  be  called  on  for  pardon;  and 
much  more,  when  the  sin  is  below  consciousness,  not  to  be 
merciful  is  not  to  be  just. 

107.  For  now  I  shall  sleep  in  the  dust ;  —  this,  after  all,  is 


1/6  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  IV. 

what  makes  Job's  inquiries  and  expostulations  so  natural. 
So  near  death  as  he  is,  the  logic  of  his  case  demands  pardon ; 
for  what  is  the  significance  of  torturing  by  pain  a  life  so  soon 
to  go  out  ?  The  thought  of  a  life  beyond  has  not  risen  to 
Job's  mind  out  of  this  enigma. 


V 

BILDAD 

Then  answered  Bildad  the  Shuhite,  and  said : 

"  How  long  wilt  thou  speak  such  things  ? 
For  the  words   of  thy   mouth   are   a   migjity 
wind. 

**  Will  God  pervert  the  right  ? 
Or  will  the  Almighty  pervert  justice  ?  s 

If  thy  children  have  sinned  against  Him, 
So  hath  He  given  them  over  into  the  hand  of 
their  transgression. 

Chap.  viii.  1-4. 

Line  2.  Bildad  replies  with  considerably  more  heat  than 
Eliphaz ;  Job's  words  have  irritated  and  disquieted  him,  hav- 
ing roused  him  to  indignation,  as  a  strong  wind  makes  a  man 
shelter  and  defend  himself. 

4.  The  mere  fact  that  Job  is  bewildered  and  asks  God  for 
explanation  of  his  affliction  astonishes  Bildad,  for  it  seems  to 
impugn  God's  justice,  the  fundamental  thing  in  Bildad' s 
creed.  His  philosophy  is  not  so  broad  as  EHphaz's,  but  per- 
haps all  the  more  clear ;  and  with  a  kind  of  brutal  directness 
he  blurts  out  what  is  in  his  mind ;  though  with  some  rem- 
nants of  courtesy  he  applies  his  explanation  to  the  children 
who  were  so  mysteriously  slain,  and  forbears  to  accuse  Job, 
except  by  implication. 


178  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  V. 

But  thou — if  thou  wilt  seek  earnestly  unto 

God, 
And  to  the  Almighty  make  supplication,  — 
So  be  that  thou  art  pure  and  upright,  —  lo 

Verily  then  He  will  awake  for  thee. 
And  will  restore  the  habitation  of  thy  right- 
eousness. 
Then,  though  thy  beginning  be  small. 
Thine  end  shall  increase  exceedingly. 

II. 

"  For  inquire  now  of  the  generation  gone,       is 

Chap.  viii.  5-8, 

8-14.  This  very  accurately  describes  both  Job's  attitude 
toward  God  and  what  afterward  befell  him ;  only  it  contem- 
plates Job's  approach  to  God  as  a  return  from  sin  and  rebel- 
lion rather  than  as  the  hunger  of  an  unselfishly  righteous 
heart.  We  see  through  it  all  the  irreconcilable  difference 
between  the  friends'  point  of  view  and  Job's  ;  the  friends 
reasoning  that  Job  is  a  leper,  and  therefore,  of  course,  a  sin- 
ner ;  Job  asserting,  I  am  a  righteous  man,  and  my  leprosy 
is  a  mystery  that  I  cannot  penetrate. 

10.  This  is  put  in  slyly,  as  a  delicate  implication  that  Job 
is  not  all  that  he  should  be  in  purity  and  uprightness. 

12.  Observe  that  Bildad,  like  Eliphaz,  sets  before  Job 
merely  a  promise  of  reinstatement,  restoration  to  worldly 
prosperity ;  compare  note  on  section  iii.  92  sqq.  This  is  all 
that  the  friends  contemplate,  and  is  their  measure  of  blessing. 
Job's  ideal  is  much  higher,  being  measured  by  nothing  short 
of  God's  presence. 

1 5.  Bildad  is  a  disciple  of  tradition,  drawing  his  philosophy 
of  life  from  the  sayings  and  precepts  of  the  ancients,  the  well- 


V.  BILDAD  1 79 

And   give   heed   to   the  research  of  their  fa- 
thers, — 
For  of  yesterday  are  we,  and  know  nothing  ; 
For  our  days  are  a  shadow  on  the  earth ;  — 
Will  they  not  teach  thee,  speak  to  thee, 
And  from  their  heart  bring  forth  sayings  ?  —  20 
'  Doth  the  rush  grow  tall  without  mire  ? 
Doth  the  marsh-grass  thrive  without  water  ? 
While  yet  in  its  greenness  it  is  uncut, 
Yet  sooner  than  all  herbs  it  drieth  up. 
So  are  the  ways  of  all  that  forget  God  ;  23 

And  the  hope  of  the  unholy  shall  perish. 
Whose  confidence  is  cut  asunder, 
And  whose  trust  is  but  the  spider's  house. 
He  leaneth    upon  his  house,   and  it  standeth 

not  ; 
He  graspeth  it  fast,  and  it  abideth  not.  so 

Chap.  viii.  8-15. 

tested  wisdom  of  the  ages.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the 
wisdom  that  he  represents  is  already  regarded  as  venerable, 
and  as  having  reached  ripened  and  irrefragable  results. 

1\.  Here  the  sayings  of  the  fathers  begin,  and  they  are  not 
without  great  beauty  and  impressiveness.  Nor  is  exception 
to  be  taken  to  them.  Job  assents  to  them  at  once  (section  vi. 
2),  and  when  he  comes  to  sum  up  the  significance  of  the 
world  his  result  is  nearly  the  same  as  Bildad's  (section  xix. 
14-19).  In  fact,  these  sayings  embody  truths  that  have  be- 
come truisms  ;  they  are  perhaps  the  oldest  statement  of  what 
we  call  the  logic  of  events.  It  was  a  great  discovery  of  man, 
and  fresher  in  Job's  days  than  now,  to  know  that  the  powers 
of  history  and  the  world  were  with  good,  and  against  wicked- 


l80  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  V. 

Green  he  is,  in  the  sunshine, 

And  his  sprouts  shoot  forth  over  his  garden ; 

Over  heaps  of  stone  his  roots  are  entwined ; 

He  looketh  upon  a  house  of  stone. 

If  he  be  destroyed  from  his  place,  35 

It  straightway  disowneth  him  —  I   never  saw 

thee. 
Behold,  this  is  the  joy  of  his  way  ; 
And  out  of  the  dust  shall  others  spring  up.' 

III. 

"  Behold,  God  will  not  despise  the  perfect  man, 
Nor  will  He  grasp  the  hand  of  the  wicked.      40 
While  He  filleth  thy  mouth  with  laughter, 
And  thy  lips  with  a  song  of  joy, 
They  that   hate   thee   shall    be   clothed   with 

shame, 
And  the  tent  of  the  wicked  shall  be  no  more." 

Chap.  viii.  16-22. 

ness.  Our  book  takes  this  idea,  the  law  of  spiritual  gravita- 
tion, so  to  say,  in  the  tenacity  of  its  prime  vigor,  before  the 
exceptions,  as  exemplified  in  Job's  life,  came  to  be  recog- 
nized ;  and  it  is  apparently  one  object  of  the  author  to  submit 
this  spiritual  law  to  its  needed  regulative  of  doubt. 

39.  God  will  not  despise  the  perfect  man  ;  but  apparently 
God  despises  Job,  for  Job  is  suffering  God's  distinctive 
scourge.  The  ending  of  Bildad's  speech,  courteous  though  it 
is,  comes  weighted  with  this  implication,  and  conditions  its 
promise  on  his  being  pure  and  upright  (1.  lo).  The  courtesy 
is  thus  only  a  clumsy  disguise  to  what  is  really  cutting  and 
harsh. 


VI 

JOB 

And  Job  answered,  and  said  : 


"  Of  a  truth  I  know  it  is  so  ; 

And  yet  —  how  shall  a  mortal  be  just  with  God  ? 

Chap.  ix.  i,  2. 

The  vague  and  aimless  questioning  which  Eliphaz's  lecture 
roused  in  Job  is  in  the  present  section  precipitated,  so  to  say, 
by  the  influence  of  Bildad's  rigid  assertion  of  divine  justice, 
into  sharp  doubt  and  despair.  There  is  no  other  section  of  the 
poem  in  which  the  tide  of  passion  and  remonstrance  rises  so 
high.  It  retraverses  in  the  main  the  field  of  thought  that 
"was  opened  in  section  iv.,  only  with  more  assurance  and  defi- 
niteness ;  being,  as  it  were,  a  higher  sweep  of  the  wave  of 
Job's  meditations  toward  the  culmination  of  his  problem,  and 
with  negative  beginnings  of  a  solution. 

Lines  2,  3.  To  Bildad's  assertion  that  God  is  just,  and 
that  He  gives  to  righteous  and  wicked  their  deserts,  Job  ac- 
cords undoubting  assent.  That  is  not  his  difficulty ;  the  real 
question  regards  man's  relation  to  God,  man's  justice,  which 
from  Job's  point  of  view  of  a  just  man  suffering  unmerited 
punishment  is  wholly  obscure.  The  question  asks  in  effect. 
What  does  justice  mean? 

3.  Both  Eliphaz  (section  iii.  34)  and  Bildad  (xvii.  6,  7)  ask 
the  same  question,  but  with  a  different  setting  and  involve- 
ment.    They  contemplate   God  as  so   unapproachably  pure 


1 82  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  VI. 

Should  he  desire  to  contend  with  Him, 
He  could  not  answer  Him  one  of  a  thousand,    s 
Wise  in  heart,  and  mighty  in  strength,  — 
Who  hath  defied  Him,  and  remained  secure  } 
Who  removeth  mountains,  and  they  know  not 
That  He  hath  overturned  them  in  His  anger. 
Who  maketh  the  earth  to  tremble  from  its  place, 
And  the  pillars  thereof  are  shaken.  u 

Who  speaketh  to  the  sun,  and  it  shineth  not  ; 
And  setteth  a  seal  round  about  the  stars. 
Who  stretcheth  out  the  heavens  alone, 
And  walketh  upon  the  heights  of  the  sea.        is 
Who  maketh  the  Bear,  Orion,  and  the  Pleiades, 
And  the  secret  chambers  of  the  south. 

Chap.  ix.  3-9. 
that  man's  utmost  righteousness  can  be  only  a  far-away  re- 
flection, a  broken  light.  Job's  question,  on  the  other  hand, 
implies  that  man  cannot  be  just  because  he  cannot  be  sure 
of  the  standard  of  justice.  This  undeserved  and  apparently 
unmotived  suffering  of  his  confuses  all  known  standards  ;  it 
makes  God  seem  to  wanton  in  power  for  the  mere  power's 
sake. 

4.  To  contend,  —  that  is,  on  equal  terms,  as  men  contend  in 
law.     A  legal  term. 

8  sqq.  In  these  descriptions  Job  has  in  mind  merely  God's 
power,  so  vast  as  to  be  wholly  beyond  human  explanation,  in 
motive  or  principle. 

12.  A  description  of  eclipse,  which  in  unscientific  nations 
is  always  one  of  the  most  impressive  and  mysterious  phe- 
nomena of  nature. 

17.  The  secret  chambers  of  the  south  are  the  supposed  quar- 
ter whence  the  rain  comes. 


VI.  JOB  183 

Who  doeth  great  things,  past  searching  out, 
And  marvelous  things,  past  numbering. 

II. 

"  Lo  !  He  goeth  by  me,  and  I  see  Him  not ;    20 
He  passeth  along,  and  I  perceive  Him  not. 
Lo  !  He  snatcheth  away,  and  who  will  restrain 

Him.? 
Who  will  say  to  Him,  What  doest  Thou } 
God  will  not  turn  away  His  wrath  ;  — 
Beneath  it  bowed  the  helpers  of  Rahab  ;  25 

How  much  less  shall  I  answer  Him, — 
Choosing  out  my  words  against  Him  ! 

Chap.  ix.  10-14. 

18,  19.  These  lines  are  quoted  almost  verbatim  from  Eli- 
phaz,  section  iii.  62,  63,  though  with  a  somewhat  different 
connection  and  implication. 

20.  /  see  Him  not,  —  this  is  the  source  of  Job's  deepest 
trouble ;  compare  section  ii.  47,  48.  He  has  lost  the  stand- 
ard of  life,  the  means  of  tracing  God ;  to  what  there  is  in 
man,  in  his  ideals  and  definitions,  God  no  longer  corresponds. 
Tennyson's  address  to  his  dead  friend, 

"  But  thou  art  turn'd  to  something  strange, 

And  I  have  lost  the  links  that  bound 

Thy  changes," 

comes  to  mind  as  a  parallel  to  Job's  feeling  as  he  mourns 

over   God's   withdrawn   friendship.     God   is   simply   a  vast 

Power  working  in  the  dark,  inscrutable,  unrestrainable. 

25.  Rahab, — XxX.txdW'j  the p7'otcd  one.  There  is  here  an  al- 
lusion to  some  legend,  now  lost,  of  some  Titanic  war  against 
God,  such  as  is  apparently  alluded  to  in  Genesis  vi.  4.  Per- 
haps Bildad's  words,  section  xvii.  3,  refer  to  the  same  event. 


1 84  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  VI . 

Whom,  though  I  were  righteous,  I  could  not 

answer  ; 
I  must  supplicate  Him  that  judgeth  me. 
If  I  should  call,  and  He  should  answer  me,     30 
I  would  not  believe  that   He  listened  to  my 

voice,  — 
He  —  who  overwhelmeth  me  with  tempest, 
And  multiplieth  my  wounds  without  cause. 
Who  suffereth  me  not  to  recover  my  breath, 
For  He  surfeiteth  me  with  bitternesses.  35 

Is  the  question  of  strength,  —  behold,  the 

Mighty  One  He  ! 

Chap.  ix.  15-19. 

29.  Job's  righteous  cause  ought  to  give  him  the  right  to 
answer  as  defendant ;  instead  of  that  he  must  entreat  as  cul- 
prit. The  Accuser  is  also  the  Judge,  setting  His  own  stand- 
ard of  judgment,  and  accountable  to  none.  This  consider- 
ation ploughs  deeply;  in  fact,  does  it  not  strike  the  rock 
against  which  all  interpretations  of  the  world  on  the  mere 
score  of  human  justice  and  desert  must  be  shattered  .'' 

31.  I  would  not  believe  ;  the  next  line  tells  why,  —  because 
deeds,  louder  than  words,  disprove  all  that  his  words  could 
say. 

33.  Without  cause,  —  this  consideration  defines  Job's  issue. 
wlth  the  friends ;  and  we,  who  know  the  Prologue,  know  that 
Job,  on  God's  own  confession  (section  i.  104),  has  pronounced 
truly.  This  is  no  plea  of  sinlessness  ;  Job  would  not  make 
such  a  plea ;  but  a  complaint  of  viicltiplicd  wounds,  —  punish- 
ment far  beyond  its  desert.  All  sense  of  proportion  between 
desert  and  punishment  is  lost  in  this  experience. 

36-47,  In  these  lines  Job  reaches  his  most  agonized  height 
of  doubt,  and  his  words  evince,  from  the  human  point  of 


VI.  JOB  185 

Of  judgment,  —  *  Who  will  set  Me  a  day  ? ' 

Were  I  righteous,  mine  own  mouth  would  con- 
demn me  ; 

Perfect  were  I,  yet  would  He  prove  me  per- 
verse. 

Perfect  I  am,  —  I  value  not  my  soul  —  I  de- 
spise my  life  —  40 

It  is  all  one  —  therefore  I  say, 

Perfect  and  wicked  He  consumeth  alike. 

If  the  scourge  destroyeth  suddenly. 

Chap.  ix.  19-23. 

view,  how  insoluble  is  the  world-problem  on  the  lines  of  hu- 
man righteousness  and  reward,  work  and  wages.  The  same 
truth  is  recognized,  from  the  divine  side,  by  the  address  from 
the  whirlwind  ;  see  section  xxvi.  145,  146. 

37.  Who  will  set  Me  a  day  ?  —  that  is,  to  come  into  judg- 
ment with  Me.  This  is  God's  supposed  answer,  implying 
His  transcendence,  so  great  that  no  one  will  venture  to  ap- 
proach Him  with  a  plea. 

38.  Mine  own  niotith,  being  so  infinitely  crude  and  unskilled 
in  speech,  as  compared  with  God,  could  only  demonstrate  in- 
feriority in  argument. 

40,  41.  With  full  view  of  its  awful  boldness,  and  of  its 
possible  utter  futility.  Job  yet  ventures  to  assert  himself,  to 
bring  his  integrity  into  the  field  with  God.  It  is  an  amazing 
conception,  —  the  mortal  thus  in  strife  with  the  Creator. 
The  beginning  of  this  bold  resolve  we  have  already  seen,  in 
section  iv.  83-85,  in  Job's  determination  to  speak  out ;  see 
note  there. 

41.  It  is  all  one,  —  that  is,  whether  Job  be  crushed  now  or 
writhe  in  anguish  a  little  longer.  While  he  has  voice,  there- 
fore, he  will  lay  open  the  thoughts  of  his  honest  soul. 


1 86  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  VI. 

He  mocketh  at  the  dismay  of  the  innocent. 
The  earth  is  given  over  into  the  hands  of  the 
wicked ;  *5 

The  face  of  its  judges  He  veileth  ;  — 
If  it  is  not  He,  who  then  is  it  ? 

III. 

"  My  days  are  swifter  than  a  courier, 
Are  fled  away,  and  have  seen  no  good. 

Chap.  ix.  23-25. 

44.  He  mocketh,  —  hard  words  these,  but  on  the  principle 
by  which  Job  is  judging  God,  not  beyond  the  data  of  actual 
experience  and  observation.  Indeed,  from  the  Hebrew  point 
of  view,  which  attributes  natural  events  directly  to  God,  Job  is 
saying  no  more  than  do  the  moderns  when  they  call  Nature 
"  red  in  tooth  and  claw."  Nor  can  we  well  escape  Job's  con- 
clusion, if  we  judge  merely  by  the  standard  that  his  friends 
press  upon  him. 

45.  Job  speaks  bitterly  and  too  strongly  here  ;  but  he  is 
looking  at  a  real  fact,  which  later  he  expands  in  calmer  mood ; 
see  sections  xiv.  12-69  »  ^^i*  34~93- 

46.  The  face  of  its  judges  He  veileth,  —  that  is,  so  that  abso- 
lute truth  and  right  are  matter  of  uncertainty,  to  be  estab- 
lished, if  at  all,  by  dialectics,  and  not  seen  face  to  face.  And 
this  is  true  if,  as  the  friends  maintain,  God  is  afflicting  Job  in 
order  to  define  sin  and  righteousness. 

47.  Job  has  of  course  no  means  of  tracing  Satan's  agency ; 
but  the  asking  of  this  question  betrays  what  a  pain  it  is  to  him, 
as  well  as  what  a  dark  problem  it  raises,  to  attribute  such 
things  to  God. 

48  sqq.  In  more  plaintive  mood  Job  recurs  to  the  thought 
of  the  brevity  and  fruitlessness  of  life,  a  thought  already 
broached  in  section  iv.  73,  74.    "  The  complaint  of  Job  is  not 


VI.  JOB  187 

They  have  swept  by,  like  the  ships  of  reed,     so 

As  the  eagle  swoopeth  upon  its  prey. 

If  my  thought  be  —  I  will  forget  my  plaint, 

Change  my  aspect,  and  be  cheerful, 

Yet  I  shudder  at  all  my  pains  ; 

I  know  that  Thou  wilt  not  hold  me  innocent ;  55 

I,  I  must  be  counted  guilty  ;  — 

Wherefore  then  this  bootless  labor  ? 

If  I  should  wash  myself  in  snow. 

And  cleanse  my  hands  with  lye. 

Even  then  Thou  wouldst  plunge  me  into  the 

ditch,  60 

Chap.  ix.  26,  31. 

merely  of  the  brevity  of  human  life  ;  it  is  that  he  can  see  no 
reason  for  that  brevity  ;  it  is  that  it  seems  cruel  that  it  should 
last  only  long  enough  to  cease ;  it  is  that  he  has  no  light  to 
show  him  life  and  immortality  beyond  the  grave.  It  is  of 
mystery  that  he  complains,  —  of  mystery  which,  unexplained, 
makes  God  seem  cruel  or  capricious." 

50.  The  ships  of  reed,  —  presumably  such  as  he,  or  the  au- 
thor of  the  book,  may  have  seen  in  Egypt,  light  and  swift. 
But  the  word  is  uncertain,  being  found  only  here. 

55,  56.  Job  has  in  mind,  doubtless,  Eliphaz's  theory,  which 
may  have  been  his  own  formerly,  of  man's  innate  and  neces- 
sary corruptness  ;  see  section  iii.  33-43-  He  has  not  learned 
to  question  this  yet ;  though  the  mystery  presses  hard  upon 
him  here,  that  he  should  in  his  ov/n  consciousness  be  inno- 
cent, yet  be  held  guilty. 

60.  It  comes  to  the  idea  of  arbitrary  power  :  God  is  so 
great  that  He  can  compel  Job  to  be  what  He  holds  him  to 
be.  A  bitter  extremity  of  logic,  that  God,  who  has  all  the 
power,  simply  works  His  own  inscrutable  will,  and  man  has 
neither  knowledge  nor  resource. 


1 88  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  VI. 

So  that  my  garments  would  abhor  me. 

For  He  is  not  a  man,  like  me,  that  I  should 
answer  Him, 
That  we  should  come  together  in  judgment ; 
Nor  is  there  any  Daysman  between  us, 
Who  might  lay  his  hand  on  both  of  us,  65 

Who  might  remove  His  rod  from  upon  me. 
That  the  dread  of  Him  should  not  unman  me. 
Then  would  I  speak,  and  would  not  fear  Him ; 
For  as  I  am  now,  I  am  not  myself. 

Chap.  ix.  31-35. 

62.  He  is  not  a  maji,  like  nie  ;  —  this  characteristic  of  God, 
removing  Him  from  all  human  standards  and  conceptions, 
and  making  justice  and  mercy  as  between  God  and  man 
mere  empty  names,  is  the  ultimate  root  of  Job's  problem. 
His  deeply  felt  need,  which  his  unexplained  punishment 
makes  palpable,  is  that  God  should  be  like  man, —  that  there 
should  be  some  common  ground  of  understanding  between 
them.     Thus  his  outreach  from  the  depths  is  Messianic. 

64.  A^or  is  there  any  Daysman,  —  only  a  negative  assertion 
this,  but  noteworthy  as  suggesting  what  would  solve  his  prob- 
lem if  only  it  were  true,  and  especially  noteworthy  as  origi- 
nating with  the  human,  with  Job.  And  though  only  negative, 
yet  it  is  to  him  such  a  fascinating  idea  that  he  broods  upon 
it,  and  turns  it  over  in  his  mind,  and  finally  comes  to  believe 
and  assert  it ;  see  sections  x.  43-48 ;  xii.  50-56 ;  and  Intro- 
ductory Study,  p.  54. 

66,  67.  With  these  two  lines  compare  section  viii.  91-94. 
These  are  the  two  immediate  things  that  Job  desires  to  have 
done,  and  he  images  the  Daysman  as  the  ideal  agency  to  do 
them. 

69.  Of  this  line  I  take  the  view  of  Dr.  Tayler  Lewis,  and 
translate  somewhat  freely,  in  order  to  make  the  expression 


VI.  JOB  189 


IV. 

"  My  soul  is  weary  of  my  life  ;  70 

I  will  let  loose  my  plaint  over  myself  ; 
I  will  speak  in  the  bitterness  of  my  soul. 
I  will  say  unto  God,  Hold  me  not  guilty  ; 
Make   me   know  wherefore  Thou    contendest 
with  me. 

Chap.  x.  i,  2. 
plain  in  English.  "The  word  i7nddi  (with  myself)  denotes 
something  nearer,  more  familiar,  than  im  (another  word  for 
•with)  would  hav3done;  .  .  .  lo  kemmadi,  not  so  with  me, 
would  seem  to  give  us  the  idea  of  de-rangement  or  being  not 
one's  self — out  of  himself '' 

70  sqq.  The  stormy  passages  of  the  book,  and  especially 
those  passages  in  which  a  special  reach  of  faith  and  insight 
is  attained,  are  followed  by  passages  of  more  calm  charac- 
ter, in  which  the  comfort  of  the  suggestion  infuses  itself  into 
his  further  thought  and  comes  to  be  taken  for  granted.  This 
is  true  whether  the  suggestion  is  negative,  or  conjectural,  or 
positive  ;  for  indeed  Job's  reaches  of  faith  pass  through  all 
these  stages  before  they  are  thoroughly  wrought  out  into  ex- 
pression. In  this  section  the  stormy  passage  that  defines  the 
chaos  of  the  moral  world  is  followed  by  the  suggestion  of  the 
Daysman,  which  would  solve  the  problem  from  Job's  point 
of  view.  This  idea,  negative  though  it  is,  calms  him.  The 
succeeding  verses  in  this  calmer  mood  do  not  take  the  Days- 
man for  granted  indeed,  but  attempt  in  the  absence  of  a 
Daysman  to  present  the  remonstrance  directly  to  God. 

71.  I  will  let  loose  my  plaint ;  —  as  if  it  were  a  flood,  to  be 
let  gush  forth  with  risk  of  devastation  and  drowning.  With 
these  lines  compare  section  iv.  83-85,  and  note  there.  The 
coming  passage,  lines  75-107,  wherein  Job  so  boldly  arraigns 


1 90  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  VI. 

Is  it  beseeming  to  Thee  that  Thou  shouldst 
oppress,  75 

That  Thou  shouldst  despise  the  labor  of  Thy 
hands, 

Whilst  Thou  shinest  on  the  counsel  of  the 
wicked  ? 

Do  eyes  of  flesh  belong  to  Thee  ? 

Or  seest  Thou  as  a  mortal  seeth  ? 

Are  Thy  days  like  a  mortal's  days,  so 

Or  Thy  years  like  the  days  of  a  man, 

Chap.  x.  3-5. 

God  to  His  face,  we  may  call,  in  Carlyle's  phrase,  Job's  Ever- 
lasting No ;  see  Introductory  Study,  p.  45,  and  footnote. 

75.  Is  it  beseeming, — that  is,  worthy  of  God  as  God.  At 
the  outset  of  his  misery  Job  would  not  **  attribute  aught  un- 
beseeming to  God"  (section  i.  87).  Neither  does  he  here; 
he  does  rather  what  is  more  honest  and  open,  goes  straight 
to  God  with  his  difficulty  and  seeks  explanation  by  some  prin- 
ciple that  he  can  understand.  It  is  like  Abraham's  question, 
Genesis  xviii,  25:  "Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do 
right?" 

That  Thou  shouldst  oppress  ;  —  notice  that  Job  uses  the 
word  presupposing  his  innocence  ;  not  punish,  as  if  he  were 
guilty. 

76.  The  creature  reading  the  Creator  a  lesson.  Job  is  giv- 
ing deep  expression  to  his  own  creative  consciousness  ;  and 
such  consciousness  demands  love  in  the  world. 

"  Who  trusted  God  was  love  indeed, 
And  love  creation's  final  law." 

This  is  enlarged  upon,  in  Job's  peculiar  meditative  way,  lines 
86-95  below. 

78-83.  To  search  narrowly  after  hidden  sin,  as  if  it  were  a 


VI.  JOB  191 

That  Thou  searchest  after  mine  iniquity, 

And  makest  inquisition  for  my  sin  ? 

Though  Thou  knowest  that  I  am  not  guilty, 

And  there  is  no  dehverer  out  of  Thy  hand.  85 
Thy  hands  have  fashioned  me  and  finished 
me, 

Together,  all  round; — yet  Thou  wouldst  de- 
stroy me  ! 

Remember  now  that  Thou  hast  moulded  me 
■    as  in  clay  ; 

And  wilt  Thou  turn  me  unto  dust  again  ? 

Didst  Thou  not  pour  me  out  like  milk,  90 

And  curdle  me  like  cheese,  — 

Clothe  me  with  skin  and  flesh. 

And  with  bones  and  sinews  weave  me  to- 
gether ? 

Life  and  favor  hast  Thou  granted  unto  me,     94 

And  Thy  providence  hath  preserved  my  spirit. 

Chap.  x.  6-12. 

matter  of  uncertainty,  is  like  man,  not  like  God  ;  it  is  not 
calmly  wise,  it  is  not  consistent  with  omniscience  or  omnipo- 
tence. For  omniscience  should  know  Job's  integrity  without 
such  elaborate  inquisition  ;  and  omnipotence  can  crush  with- 
out giving  account  to  any  one. 

86-95.  The  vividness  with  which  God's  process  of  creation 
is  conceived  and  portrayed  is  an  indication  of  the  keenness 
with  which  Job  realizes  the  awful  inconsistency  that  confronts 
him.  The  wantonness  of  the  destruction  heightens  his  sense 
of  the  wonderfulness  of  creation. 


192  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  VI. 

And  yet  in  Thy  heart  Thou  hast  hid  these 

things, 
I  know  that  this  was  in  Thy  mind : 
If  I  sin,  Thou  takest  account  of  me, 
Nor  wilt  Thou  absolve  me  from  mine  iniquity. 
If  I  am  wicked,  woe  unto  me !  loo 

And  if  righteous,  yet  may  I   not  lift  up  my 

head,  — 
Filled  as  I  am  with    shame,  and  seeing   my 

misery,  — 
And  should  it  lift  itself,  like  a  lion  wouldst 

Thou  hunt  me, 
And  show  anew  Thy  wonders  upon  me. 
Thou  renewest  Thy  witnesses  against  me,      105 
And  Thou  multipliest  Thy  displeasure  toward 

me. 
With  changing  host  on  host  opposing  me. 

Chap.  x.  13-17. 

97.  This  was  in  Thy  mind,  —  namely,  what  follows,  that 
God  should  hunt  out  every  sin  and  pursue  it  relentlessly. 
This,  then,  is  what  creation  and  preservation  mean  !  Just 
about  what  the  friends'  doctrine  involves,  only  reduced  to  a 
somewhat  sharper  antithesis,  and  viewed  from  Job's  standing- 
point.  There  is  a  bitter  irony  in  this  passage.  Although 
Job  says  "  I  know,"  yet  we  cannot  read  these  words  as  his 
real  and  settled  conviction ;  he  cannot  rest  in  it  any  time  at 
all.  It  is  merely  the  awful  reductio  ad  absurdum  to  which 
the  friends'  views  and  his  own  former  philosophy  lead. 

104-107.  At  the  ends  of  these  lines  there  is  a  wealth  of 
Hebrew  prepositions  which  can  be  rendered  only  approxi- 
mately in  idiomatic  English. 

107.  Literally,  changes  and  a  host.  Job's  most  frequently 
recurring  image  to  describe  his  afflictions  ;  see  section  iv.  S. 


VI.  JOB  193 

V. 

"Wherefore  then  didst  Thou  bring  me  forth 

from  the  womb  ? 
I  might  have  breathed  my  last,  and   eye  had 

not  seen  me  ; 
As  though  I  had  never  been  might  I  be,  —    no 
Carried  forth  from  the  belly  to  the  tomb. 

Are  not  my  days  few  ? 
Let  Him  cease  then  ;  let  Him  leave  me  alone, 
That  I  may  be  cheerful  a  little  while, 
Before  I  go  hence,  and  return  not,  ns 

To  the  land  of  darkness  and  shadow  of  death, 
A  land  of  blackness,  like  midnight, 

Chap.  x.  18-22. 

108.  Wherefore  then  ?  Job's  question  of  section  ii.  23,  41 
repeated,  with  the  added  significance  imparted  to  it  by  all  the 
steps  and  involvements  through  which  his  thought  has  passed. 
After  all  that  the  friends  have  urged,  after  all  the  aspects  in 
which  the  case  may  be  viewed,  it  remains  true  that  there  is 
no  satisfactory  solution  of  life.  This  may  be  regarded  as  the 
summing-up  of  the  present  section,  comprising  the  dreary 
outcome  of  the  friends'  philosophy. 

112  sqq.  Compare  section  iv.  75-95. 

116.  To  the  land  of  darkness.  By  the  side  of  his  present 
misery  the  darkest  aspect  of  death  makes  a  picture  on  which 
Job's  imagination  dwells  fondly.  Of  course  he  is  using 
merely  the  language  of  phenomena,  a  language  not  conclu- 
sive for  or  against  a  belief  in  immortality.  To  such  language 
he  holds  himself  strictly ;  nor  will  he  commit  himself  to  a 
solution  beyond,  except  as  a  rational  faith  can  accept  it. 


194  ^-^-^  BOOK  OF  JOB  VI. 

Of  the  shadow  of  death,  and  without  order, 
And  where  the  shining  is  like  midnight." 

Chap.  x.  22. 

119.  It  is  the  superlative  of  darkness  when  even  the  shin- 
ing—  what  light  there  supposably  is  —  is  like  midnight. 


VII 

ZOPHAR 

Then  answered  Zophar  the  Naamathite,  and 
said : 

**  Shall  a  throng  of  words  go  unanswered, 
And  a  man  of  lips  be  counted  in  the  right? 
Shall  thy  babblings  put  men  to  silence, 
That  thou  mayest  mock,  with  none  to  shame 
thee,  5 

And  say,  My  doctrine  is  pure, 
And  clean  am  I  in  Thy  sight  ? 

Chap.  xi.  1-4. 

Zophar's  indignation  rises  still  higher  than  that  of  the  oth- 
ers; being  a  narrower  man,  his  views  are  correspondingly 
more  intense  and  dogmatic.  With  no  pretense  of  courtesy, 
he  characterizes  Job  as  a  "  man  of  lips,"  whose  words  are 
mere  babbling  and  mocking. 

Line  4.  The  word  men  means  men  of  full  growth,  mature 
men ;  and  there  seems  to  be  an  implication  in  the  word  bab- 
blings that  Job  is  childish.  Perhaps  the  fact  that  Job's  words 
reach  no  resting-point,  but  remain  gyrating  in  uncertainty,  is 
what  makes  them  seem  so  barren  and  childish.  The  com- 
placency of  a  cut-and-dried  theory  ! 

7.  Clean  am  /,  — this  is  the  sticking-point  with  the  friends. 
Job's  words  seem  presumptuous  insistence  on  what  all  ortho- 


196  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  VII. 

But  oh,  that  God  would  indeed  speak, 

And  open  His  lips  against  thee, 

And  show  thee  the  hidden  things  of  wis- 
dom, —  10 

For  there  is  fold  on  fold  to  truth,  — 

Then  know  thou,  that  God  abateth  to  thee,  of 
thine  iniquity. 

Chap.  xi.  5, 6. 

dox  thinking  has  disclaimed.  That  no  mortal  can  be  clean 
in  God's  sight  is  perhaps  the  most  unquestionable  article  of 
their  philosophy;  see  sections  iii.  2Z~y7 '■>  ^-  26-31  ;  xvii. 
6-1 1.  And  Zophar  is  just  the  man  to  be  bitter  and  bigoted 
over  it. 

8.  Would  mdeed  speak,  —  probably  an  allusion  to  what  Job 
says,  section  vi.  4-7,  26-33  >  ^^^  to  Job's  general  demand 
for  explanation  of  his  misery. 

11.  For  there  is  fold  on  fold  to  truth,  —  literally,  truth  is 
twofold.  The  word  translated  truth  is  elsewhere  translated 
reality ;  see  note,  section  iii.  69.  This  theory  of  a  twofold 
and  mystical  sense  in  truth  is  a  significant  indication  of  the 
refinement  that  the  Hebrew  Wisdom  had  reached  by  feeding 
on  its  speculations. 

12.  God  abateth  to  thee,  —  that  is,  even  in  this  punishment 
does  not  take  account  of  all  the  evil  Job  has  done.  To  say 
this  is  not  personal  spite  ;  it  is  merely  the  extreme  to  which 
the  theory  of  man's  necessary  depravity,  unchecked  by  sober 
sense,  may  lead,  —  an  extreme  that  requires  a  twofold  inter- 
pretation of  things  to  substantiate. 

Observe  how  the  friends  have  gathered  heat  as  they  pro- 
ceeded. Eliphaz  was  courteous  and  indirect,  exhorting 
merely  to  repentance  ;  Bildad  spoke  of  the  sons'  calamity  as 
just  J  Zophar  finds  Job's  punishment  less  than  his  desert. 


VII.  ZOPHAR  197 

I. 

"Canst  thou  find  out  the  secret  of  God  ? 

Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfec- 
tion ? 

Heights  of  heaven,  —  what  canst  thou  do  ?     15 

Deeper  than  Sheol,  —  what  canst  thou  know  ? 

Longer  than  the  earth  its  measure, 

And  broader  than  the  sea. 

If  He  pass  by,  and  apprehend,  and  call  to  judg- 
ment, 

Who  then  shall  prevent  Him  ?  20 

For  He,  He  knoweth  false  men  ; 

And  He  seeth  wickedness,  though  He  seemeth 
not  to  heed. 

But  the  witless  will  never  become  wise, 

Till  the  wild-ass'  foal  be  born  a  man. 

Chap.  xi.  7-12. 

13-18.  Nothing  can  be  more  beautiful  or  true  than  these 
words,  abstractly  considered ;  and  it  is  only  Zophar's  point 
of  view  that  makes  them  convict  Job  of  presumption.  Job 
has  been  trying  to  find  merely  what  concerns  him  as  a  re- 
sponsible being,  something  that  he  feels  he  has  a  right  to 
know  if  he  is  judged  on  grounds  of  mere  justice  ;  but  Zophar 
identifies  this  with  presumptuous  curiosity  about  God's  hid- 
den ways. 

21,  22.  Zophar  and  the  others  have  an  intellectual  delight 
in  God's  inscrutableness ;  as  they  are  not  hurt  by  it,  they  like 
to  note  the  sudden  stroke  that  overtakes  the  sinner.  Suffer- 
ing has  changed  all  that  in  Job;  see  section  iv.  62,  and  note. 

23,  24.  Literally,  the  witless  will  become  wise  when  {and) 


198  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 


VII. 


II. 

"  But  thou,  if  thou  wilt  direct  thy  heart,  25 

And  spread  forth  thy  hands  unto  Him,  — 
If  iniquity  be  in  thy  hand,  put  it  far  away. 
And  let  not  perverseness  dwell  in  thy  tents,  — 
Then  surely  shalt  thou  lift  up  thy  face  without 

spot. 
And  thou  shalt  be  steadfast  and  not  fear.         so 
For  thou  shalt  forget  misery, 
Shalt  remember  it  as  waters  that  have  passed 

away  ; 
And  brighter  than  noonday  shall  the  future 

arise ; 
And  be  it  never  so  dark,  it  shall  be  as  the 

morning. 

Chap.  xi.  13-17. 

the  wild-ass'  foal  will  be  born  a  viajt,  —  that  is,  never ;  pre- 
sumably a  proverb.  Does  not  the  use  of  this  proverb  indi- 
cate that  Wisdom  culture  was  becoming  intolerant,  —  as  the 
Pharisees  came  afterward  to  say,  "  This  people  that  knoweth 
not  the  law  are  cursed  "  .? 

25.  The  same  call  to  repentance  that  Eliphaz  (section  iii. 
60  sqq.)  and  Bildad  (section  v.  8-14)  have  given.  It  is  in 
more  courteous  tone  than  the  foregoing  lines ;  but  its  animus 
is  still  evident,  in  the  fact  that  it  traverses  Job's  presupposi- 
tion entirely  and  exhorts  to  what  Job  can  do  only  as  a  con- 
fessed sinner. 

27,  28.  Zophar  puts  in  the  same  kind  of  saving  clause  that 
Bildad  has  done  (section  v.  10),  but  not  quite  so  delicately. 


VII.  ZOPHAR  199 

And  thou  shalt  be  confident  because  there  is 
hope,  35 

And  shalt  look  around  thee  and  lie  down  se- 
curely. 

Thou  shalt  lie  down  and  none  shall  make  thee 
afraid  ; 

And  great  ones  shall  pay  court  unto  thee. 

But  the  eyes  of  the  wicked  shall  waste  away, 

And  refuge  vanisheth  from  them  ;  40 

And  their  hope  is  —  to  breathe  forth  their  life." 

Chap.  xi.  18-20. 

39.  A  tag  about  the  wicked,  to  give  a  bite  to  the  end  of 
his  speech. 

41.  Their  hope  is,  etc.,  —  a  contrast  to  what  he  has  just 
said  (1.  35)  about  the  repentant  righteous  man,  and  possibly 
a  little  hint  against  Job's  rash  desire  to  die.  The  paradox  of 
the  expression  is  like  Bildad's  "  This  is  the  joy  of  his  way," 
section  v.  37,  and  is  probably  one  of  the  aphoristic  crystalli- 
zations of  the  Wisdom  philosophy. 


VIII 

JOB 

And  Job  answered,  and  said : 

"  Of  a  truth,  ye  are  the  people. 

And  wisdom  will  die  with  you  ! 

I  also  have  understanding,  as  well  as  you  ; 

I  am  not  inferior  to  you  ; 

And  who  knoweth  not  thingfs  like  these  ? 


Chap.  xii.  1-3. 

Hitherto  Job's  attitude  toward  his  friends  has  been  that 
of  unquestioning  assent.  Agreeing  with  all  their  assertions, 
he  has  endeavored,  but  wholly  without  result,  to  make  their 
philosophy  explain  these  perplexing  facts.  Now  that  all 
three  have  spoken,  however,  and  revealed  their  uniform 
drift,  the  barrenness  of  their  generalizations  flashes  upon 
him,  and  he  sees  that  they  have  not  touched  the  difficulties 
of  the  case  at  all.  They  have  urged  no  more  than  he  has 
always  known.  From  this  point  his  attitude  toward  them 
changes.  They  no  longer  stand  to  him  as  representatives 
of  wisdom  ;  and  this  section,  ceasing  to  arraign  God,  ar- 
raigns the  friends  instead. 

Line  6.  The  friends' words  are  the  veriest  commonplace; 
strangely  insipid  as  they  seemed  from  the  first  — see  section 
iv.  II,  note  —  they  have  become  but  more  evidently  so  as 
they  multiplied. 


VIII.  JOB  '  20 1 

A  laughing-stock  to  his  friend  —  such  must  I 

be, — 
I  who  call  upon  God,  and  whom  He  answer- 

eth, — 
A  laughing-stock  I,  the  just,  the  upright. 
For  woe  there  is  contempt  in  the  thought  of 

the  secure  ;  10 

It  awaiteth  them  whose  feet  stumble. 
The  tents  of  spoilers  are  at  peace ; 
And  there  is  full  security  to  them  that  provoke 

God, 
To  him  that  carrieth  his  God  in  his  hand. 


"  Nay,  ask  now  the  beasts,  and  they  will  teach 
thee,  15 

Chap.  xii.  4-7. 

7.  A  laughing-stock, — because  his  perplexities  are  ignored 
and  contemned,  while  his  fundamental  righteousness  is  coolly 
denied. 

10.  The  friends  are  secure ;  they  do  not  look  at  suffering 
through  sufferers'  eyes  ;  they  can  contemn  a  woe  that  they 
do  not  feel. 

12-15.  These  lines  are  the  logical  sequence  of  the  previous. 
Those  who  live  in  high-handed  wickedness,  whose  spear  or 
sword  is  all  the  God  and  deliverer  they  desire,  have  the  same 
unfeeling  security ;  like  the  friends,  they  have  the  arrogance 
of  the  upper  hand.  This  consideration  carries  on  the  thought 
first  broached  in  section  vi.  45,  advancing  it  one  step  toward 
that  view  of  the  wicked  and  tlieir  ways  which  Job  carries  out 
in  sections  xiv.  12-67  5  xvi.  34-91- 

15  sqq.  In  these  lines,  as  far  as  1.  56,  Job  takes  up  and  iter- 


202  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  VIII. 

And  the  bird  of  the  heaven,  and  it  will  tell 

thee  ; 
Or  direct  thy  thought  to  the  earth,  and  it  will 

teach  thee, 
And  the  fishes  of  the  sea  will  recount  unto 

thee. 
Who  knoweth  not,  by  all  these, 
That  the  hand  of  Jehovah  worketh  thus  ?         20 
In  whose  hand  is  the  soul  of  every  living  thing, 
And  the  spirit  of  all  human  flesh. 

Doth  not  the  ear  try  words, 
As  the  palate  tasteth  meat  for  itself  } 
Doth  wisdom  dwell  with  hoary  heads,  25 

And  is  length  of  days  understanding? 
With  Him  are  wisdom  and  might ; 

Chap.  xii.  7-13. 

ates  what  is  true  in  the  views  of  the  friends,  at  the  same  time 
broadening  its  application.  Everything,  both  good  and  evil, 
is  in  God's  hands  ;  no  Eliphaz's  vision,  or  Bildad's  traditional 
wisdom,  or  Zophar's  occult  philosophy,  is  needed  to  prove 
that ;  the  commonest  things  teach  it. 

20.  The  hand  of  Jehovah,  — this  is  the  only  place  in  the 
poem,  aside  from  the  Prologue  and  the  Epilogue,  where  the 
name  Jehovah  occurs  ;  see  note,  section  i.  24.  Jehovah,  the 
God  of  the  Hebrews,  is  here  recognized  as  the  universal  God. 

23-26.  The  wisdom  of  which  the  friends  think  so  much  is 
not  the  gift  or  prerogative  of  years ;  it  is  revealed  to  a  native 
insight  as  natural  as  taste  or  hearing ;  hence  Job  can  trust  his 
own  conclusions  as  well  as  those  of  the  friends.  In  this  con- 
fidence he  leaves  their  philosophy,  and  sets  out  for  himself. 

27  sqq.  In  these  lines  Job  gives  the  results  of  his  observa- 


VIII.  JOB  203 

To  Him  belong  counsel  and  understanding. 
Behold,  He  teareth  down,  and  it  shall  not  be 

builded  ; 
He  shutteth  up  a  man,  and  there  shall  be  no 

opening.  30 

Behold,   He  restraineth  the  waters,  and  they 

dry  up  ; 
He  letteth  them  forth,  and  they  lay  waste  the 

earth. 
With  Him  are  strength  and  truth  ; 
The  erring  one  and  he  that  causeth  to  err  are 

His. 
Who  leadeth  counselors  away  captive  ;  35 

And  judges  He  maketh  fools. 

Chap.  xii.  13-17. 

tion  in  nature  and  history.  In  the  main  it  is  in  the  same  line 
as  the  friends'  philosophy,  possibly  drawn  from  the  great 
body  of  Wisdom  literature,  but  differing  from  it  (see  especially 

I.  34)  in  making  God's  dealings  irrespective  of  human  sin  and 
desert.  So  far  as  the  moral  character  of  God  herein  involved 
is  concerned,  He  might  be  an  irresponsible  and  arbitrary  ty- 
rant, giving  no  reasons  and  caring  for  no  justifications.  This 
is  an  important  step  in  advance  of  the  friends'  wisdom ;  it 
clears  the  ground,  so  to  say,  of  their  narrow  moral  considera- 
tions, and  forms  a  clean  basis  on  which  to  build  anew. 

35.  So  much  is  said  here  of  captivity,  and  of  removal  (see 

II.  35,  39,  48),  and  with  such  apparent  marks  of  an  eye-wit- 
ness  (see  1.  53),  that  we  naturally  conclude  some  great  na- 
tional upheaval  was  fresh  in  memory,  the  writer  putting  his 
own  memories  into  the  mouth  of  the  patriarch.  To  me  this 
event  seems  most  probably  to  have  been  the  fall  of  the 
Northern  Kingdom;  see  Introductory  Study,  pp.  111-114- 


204  ^^^  BOOK  OF  JOB  VI 1 1. 

The  bond  of  kings  He  looseth, 

And  bindeth  a  cord  upon  their  loins. 

Who  leadeth  priests  away  captive  ; 

And  the  long  established  He  overthroweth.    4o 

Who  removeth  the  speech  of  trusted  ones  ; 

And  the  discernment  of  the  aged  He  taketh 

away. 
Who  poureth  contempt  on  princes  ; 
And  the  girdle  of  the  strong  He  looseth. 
Who  revealeth  deep  things  out  of  darkness,    45 
And  bringeth  forth   to    light   the   shadow   of 

death. 
Who  maketh  nations   great, — and  destroyeth 

them ; 
Who  spreadeth  nations  out,  and  leadeth  them 

away. 
Who  dishearteneth  the  leaders  of  the  people  of 

the  land, 
And  maketh  them  wander  in  a  waste  where 

there  is  no  path.  50 

They  grope  in  darkness  without  light  ; 
And  He  maketh  them  wander  like  a  drunken 

man. 
Behold,  all  this  hath  mine  eye  seen  ; 
Mine  ear  hath  heard  and  understood  it  well. 

Chap.  xii.  18  —  xiii.  i. 

53-56.  Job  has  thus  accurately  defined  how  far  he  and  the 
friends  are  at  one ;  they  agree  in  ascribing  all  events  to  God. 
But  from  this  point  their  paths  diverge. 


VIII.  JOB  205 

What  ye  know,  that  know  I  also ;  55 

I  am  not  inferior  to  you. 


II. 

"  But  I,  —  to  the  Almighty  would  I  speak ; 

I  long  to  make  plea  unto  God. 

But  ye  too,  —  forgers  of  lies  are  ye  ; 

Patchers-up  of  nothings  are  ye  all.  eo 

Would  that  ye  were  silent  altogether ! 

And  it  would  be  to  you  for  wisdom. 

Hear  ye  now  my  rebuke, 
And  listen  to  the  charges  of  my  lips. 
Will  ye  speak  wJiat  is  wrong,  for  God  .''  65 

And  will  ye,  for  Him,  utter  deceit  t 

Chap.  xiii.  2-7. 

57,  58.  Taking  Zophar  at  his  word  (see  section  vii.  8)  Job 
would  invite  God's  answer  by  making  plea  to  Him.  In  the 
absence  of  a  Daysman  to  represent  his  cause  (section  vi.  62- 
69),  Job  approaches  God  directly,  as  indeed  he  has  ap- 
proached Him  before  (vi.  70-107),  but  in  much  better  spirit 
now. 

59.  Forgers  of  lies.  What  the  friends  have  said,  true 
though  it  is,  is  only  the  half-truth,  which  in  their  application 
of  it  has  all  the  effect  of  a  lie.  Two  essential  elements  they 
have  ignored  :  the  fact,  illustrated  by  Job's  afHiction,  that 
man  may  be  punished  though  righteous  ;  and  the  converse, 
taught  by  obvious  facts,  that  man  may  be  wicked  and  pros- 
per.    Hence  their  philosophizings  are  of  no  worth  at  all ;  see 

11.75,76. 

65  sqq.  At  this  sublime  point  the  utter  honesty  of  Job  s  heart 
comes  in  conflict  with  what  he  must  recognize  as  dishonesty 


206  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  VIII. 

Will  ye  respect  His  person  ? 

Or  will  ye  be  special  pleaders  for  God  ? 

Would  it  be  well,   if  He  should    search    you 

out  ? 
Or  will  ye  mock  Him,  as  man  mocketh  man  ?  70 
He  will  surely  convict  you  utterly, 
If  in  secret  ye  are  respecters  of  persons. 
Shall  not  His  majesty  make  you  afraid, 
And  the  dread  of  Him  fall  upon  you  ? 
Your  wise  maxims  are  proverbs  of  ashes  ;        75 
Your  bulwarks  turn  to  bulwarks  of  clay. 

III. 

**  Be  silent ;  let  me  alone  ;  and  speak  will  I, 
Let  come  upon  me  what  will. 
Wherefore  do  I  take  my  flesh  in  my  teeth. 
And  put  my  life  in  my  hand  }  so 

Chap.  xiii.  8-14. 

on  the  part  of  the  friends.  In  denying  facts  in  order  to  jus- 
tify God  they  are  simply  currying  favor  with  God,  respecting 
His  person  in  opposition  to  candid  conviction. 

69-74.  Job  takes  his  stand  on  God's  truth ;  dark  though 
the  divine  ways  are,  Job  is  afraid  to  be  dishonest  to  convic- 
tion before  Him,  Thus  his  philosophy  comes  home  at  last 
to  personal  character. 

75.  It  was  in  the  maxim  or  aphoristic  form  that  the  utter- 
ances of  Hebrew  Wisdom  were  formulated ;  this  remark  of 
Job  is  in  effect  the  condemnation  of  their  whole  philosophy. 

77,  78.  This  emphatic  preface  is  Job's  hint  of  the  impor- 
tance and  significance  of  what  he  is  going  to  say.  He  is 
going  to  make  a  declaration  on  which  life  and  death  hangs. 


VIII.  JOB  207 

Behold  —  He  may  slay  me  ;  I  may  not  hope  ; 
But  my  ways  will  I  maintain,  to  His  face. 
Nay,  that  shall  be  to  me  also  for  salvation, 
For  no  false  one  shall  come  into  His  presence. 
Hear,  oh  hear  my  speech,  85 

And  let  my  declaration  sound  in  your  ears. 
Behold,  now  have  I  set  in  order  my  cause ; 
I  know  that  I  shall  be  justified. 
Who  is  he  that  will  contend  with  me  t  — 
For  then  would  I  be  silent  and  give  up  my  life.  90 

Chap.  xiii.  15-19. 

81.  A  more  authentic  reading,  as  well  as  the  homogeneity 
of  the  context,  seems  to  make  it  necessary  that  the  much- 
loved  text  "  Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him  " 
shall  yield  to  the  translation  here  given. 

82.  My  ways  will  I ma'nitain.  This  is  not  foolhardy  pre- 
sumption on  Job's  part ;  from  11.  69-74  it  is  apparent  that  he  is 
afraid  to  do  otherwise.  This  declaration  we  call  Job's  ever- 
lasting Yea,  in  which  he  definitely  leaves  his  friends,  who  are 
trying  to  have  him  forsake  his  ways  and  repent,  and  commits 
the  event  of  his  life,  as  he  has  hitherto  lived  it,  to  God  ;  see 
Introductory  Study,  p.  52,  footnote. 

83.  But  at  the  same  time  he  does  this  in  faith,  that  only  on 
the  issue  of  truth  can  salvation  be  found.  To  maintain  the 
ways  that  he  sees  to  be  right  will  be,  must  be,  his  salvation. 

85.  Another  call  to  attention,  indicating  Job's  confidence  in 
the  importance  of  his  declaration. 

87,  88.  Job  regards  himself  throughout  as  a  defendant 
bringing  a  righteous  cause  to  God. 

89,  90.  These  lines  indicate  how  deeply  Job's  avowal  has 
taken  hold  of  his  life.  So  sure  is  he  of  its  truth  that  if  it 
were  possible  for  one  to  make  good  the  opposite,  then  life 
would  have  no  more  significance  for  him  ;  his  whole  being  is 
committed  to  this  position  of  his. 


208  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  VIII. 

Only  these  two  things  do  not  Thou  unto  me,  — 
Then  will  I  not  hide  myself  from  Thy  face  : 
Remove  Thou  Thy  hand  from  upon  me, 
And  let  not  Thy  terror  unman  me  ; 
Then  call  Thou,  and  I  will  answer  Thee,  95 

Or  I  will  speak,  and  return  Thou  answer  to  me. 
How  many  are  mine  iniquities  and  my  sins  ? 
My  transgressions  and    my  sins    make  Thou 

known  to  me. 
Wherefore  hidest  Thou  Thy  face, 
And  countest  me  for  Thine  enemy  ?  100 

Wilt  Thou  chase  away  a  driven  leaf, 
And  pursue  after  the  dry  stubble  ? 
For  Thou  writest  bitter  things  against  me. 
And  makest  me  inherit  the  sins  of  my  youth. 
And  Thou  puttest  my  feet  in  the  stocks,         105 
And  keepest  watch  on  all  my  paths. 

Chap.  xni.  20-27. 

91.  Comparing  this  passage  with  section  vi.  64-69,  we  see 
that  the  two  things  for  which  Job  asks  here  are  just  the 
boons  that  he  associates  with  a  Daysman.  Note,  then,  the 
place  of  this  plea.  As  soon  as  Job,  committing  life  and  des- 
tiny to  his  integrity,  feels  that  he  has  reached  a  point  where 
God  and  he  may  stand  together,  and  where,  believing  that 
God  will  hear  and  heed,  he  may  set  in  order  his  cause,  he 
makes  his  plea  for  that  which  a  Daysman  would  secure. 

97,  99.  How  jnany  ?  and  Wherefore  ?  These  are  the  prob- 
lems that  have  all  along  perplexed  Job  ;  but  he  now  urges 
them  as  part  of  the  cause  which  he  has  "  set  in  order." 

103.  Writest  bitter  things,  —  as  it  were  an  indictment,  which 
Job  has  to  answer. 


VIII.  JOB  209 

On  the  soles  of  my  feet  hast  Thou  set  Thy 

mark  ; 
On  one  who  as  a  rotten  thing  consumeth  away, 
As  a  garment  that  is  moth-eaten. 

IV. 

"  Man,  born  of  woman,  110 

Scant  of  days,  and  full  of  unrest, 
Cometh  forth,  like  a  flower,  and  withereth, 
Fleeth  like  the  shadow,  and  abideth  not. 
Yet  on  such  a  one  dost  Thou  open  Thine  eyes. 
And  me    bringest    Thou  into  judgment  with 
Thee.  i« 

Chap.  xiii.  27  — xiv.  3. 

107.  Hast  Thou  set  Thy  mark,  —  as  a  driver  marks  a  camel 
so  that  he  can  trace  it.  "  The  grievance  that  Job  complains 
of,  in  this  case,  would  be  like  putting  such  a  mark  upon  an 
old  worn-out  camel,  which,  instead  of  straying,  was  unable 
to  stand  up."  —  Tayler  Lewis. 

no.  The  thought  of  his  diseased  and  exhausted  condition 
brings  anew  the  thought  of  death,  round  which  his  mind  has 
already  eddied;  here,  however,  he  begins  to  work  toward  a 
solution  of  the  perplexing  fact,  though,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Daysman,  only  negatively  at  first. 

115  By  this  skillful  transition  to  the  first  person  Job  iden- 
tifies himself  with  the  race,  and  reveals  his  consciousness 
that  his  case  is  a  lesson  for  all  humanity.  A  similar  manner 
of  expression  is  used  in  Tennyson's  In  Memoriam,  cix.  6  :  - 

••  All  these  have  been,  and  ihce  mine  eyes 
Have  look'd  on." 


210  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  VIII. 

Oh  that  a  pure  could  come  from  an  impure ! 

—  Not  one  ! 

If  his  days  are  determined, 

The  number  of  his  months  with  Thee, 

His  bounds  if  Thou  hast  set,  that  he  may  not 

pass  them,  120 

Then  look  away  from  him,  that  he  may  rest, 
Until  he  shall  enjoy,  as  a  hireling,  his  day. 

For  there  is  yet  hope  for  a  tree  ; 
If  it  is  cut  down,  it  will  shoot  up  again. 
And  its  tender  sprout  will  not  fail.  125 

Though  its  root  should  grow  old  in  the  earth, 
And  in  the  dust  its  trunk  should  die. 
Yet  through  the  scent  of  water  it  sprouteth 

again, 

Chap.  xiv.  4-9. 

116,  117,  Job's  thought,  in  this  ejaculation,  seems  to  be. 
Oh,  that  all  these  pains  and  diseases,  all  this  frailty  and  suf- 
fering of  humanity,  might  issue  in  completion  rather  than  in 
corruption  ;  that  they  had  some  result  corresponding  to  their 
severity;  but  in  the  present  outlook  they  seem  wholly  fruit- 
less of  their  due.  It  is  this  longing  that  apparently  supplies 
the  impulse  for  his  further  conjectures  on  death  and  renewed 
life. 

120.  His  bounds,  —  the  human  soul  of  Job  is  too  large  for 
its  dwelling-place  ;  it  beats  blindly  against  its  earthly  limita- 
tions, longing  to  pass  them. 

122.  As  a  hireling,  —  a  doubtful  enjoyment,  merely  making 
the  best  of  a  hard  matter ;  see  section  iv.  62-67. 

123.  An  analogy  occurs  to  Job,  which  is  full  of  suggestion 
for  better  things  and  rouses  great  thoughts  of  what  ought 
to  be. 


VIII.  JOB  211 

And  putteth  forth  boughs  like  a  young  plant. 
But  man  dieth,  and  is  fallen  prostrate  ;  lao 

But  man  gaspeth  out  his  breath,  —  and  where 

is  he } 
Waters  fail  from  the  sea, 
And  the  river  wasteth  and  drieth  up : 
So  man  lieth  down,  and  riseth  not  ; 
Till  the  heavens  be  no  more  they    will   not 

awake,  135 

Nor  be  roused  out  of  their  sleep. 

Oh  that  Thou  wouldst  hide  me  in  the  grave, 
Wouldst  keep  me    secret  until  Thy  wrath  is 

past, 
Wouldst  set  me  a  time,  and  remember  me ! 
If  a  man  die  —  might  he  live  again  ?  mo 

Chap.  xiv.  9-14. 

130-133.  Yet  Job  sternly  represses  the  application  of  the 
figure,  and  makes  it  yield  to  the  counter-analogy  of  the  fail- 
ing Avaters.  Throughout  this  passage,  to  the  end  of  the  sec- 
tion, there  is  a  conflict  between  intellect  and  imagination, 
reason  and  fancy,  the  seen  and  the  longed-for.  And  alto- 
gether we  have  here  such  a  picture  of  faith  struggling  to  get 
free  from  the  inexorable  suggestions  of  this  phenomenal  life 
and  find  a  free  standing-point  in  the  unseen  beyond,  as  can 
hardly  be  paralleled  elsewhere  in  literature. 

137.  This  longing,  which  surges  up  unsubdued  by  the  pre- 
vious analogy,  seems  to  be  suggested  by  the  last  clause  about 
sleep.  "  If  sleep  and  death  be  truly  one,"  — then,  there  may 
be  a  waking !  For  a  parallel  passage,  read  Tennyson's  In 
Memoriam,  xliii. 

140.  Might  he  live  again  ?  The  whole  context  indicates 
that  Job  asks  this  question  with  the  thought —  provisionally, 


212  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  VIII. 

All  the  days  of  my  service  would  I  wait, 
Until  my  renewal  came  ; 
Thou  wouldst  call,  and  I  would  answer ; 
Thou   wouldst   yearn  after  the  work  of  Thy 

hands ! 
For  then  wouldst  Thou  number  my  steps,       145 
Nor  wouldst  Thou  watch  upon  my  sin  ; 
Sealed  up  in  a  bag  would  my  transgression  be. 
And  Thou  wouldst  sew  up  mine  iniquity. 

Chap,  xiv.  14-17. 

of  course — of  the  affirmative  answer  in  mind.  Hence  the 
translation  "  might  he  live."  The  translation  "  shall  he  live  " 
would  be  the  oratorical  interrogation  suggesting  a  negative 
answer,  which  would  be  quite  out  of  place  here.  It  is  this 
affirmative  answer  which  Job  uses  as  an  implied  basis  for  the 
succeeding  lines,  141-148. 

141.  My  service,  —  the  same  war-fare,  or  war-service,  which 
Job  attributes  to  himself,  as  representative  of  humanity,  in 
section  iv.  62. 

142.  My  renezval,  —  Job  uses  this  word  apparently  in  remi- 
niscence of  his  analogy  of  the  tree,  1.  124,  where  the  word 
"  will  shoot  up  "  has  the  same  Hebrew  root.  If  man  should 
live  again,  then  he  would  be  renewed  like  the  tree,  and  could 
wait  in  hope. 

144.  How  persistently  Job  presupposes  in  God  a  love  like 
that  of  a  father  !  —  see  section  vi.  75,  76;  86,  87.  In  this  re- 
spect he  is  in  contrast  to  the  hard  theology  of  his  friends ; 
and  it  is  on  this  line  of  affection  —  Creator  for  creature, 
friend  for  friend,  an  affection  which  in  his  relations  here  on 
earth  has  failed  —  that  he  reaches  his  greatest  achievements 
in  faith. 

145-148.  A  contrast  to  God's  present  treatment  of  him  ; 
see  11.  103-109.     If  Job  were  to  live  again,  his  steps  would  be 


VIII.  JOB  213 

V. 

"And   yet  —  the   mountain  falling  crumbleth 

away, 
And  the  rock  removeth  out  of  its  place.  m 

Water  weareth  down  the  stones  ; 
Its  floods  sweep  away  the  dust  of  the  earth  ; 
And  the  hope  of   mortal  man   Thou    makest 

perish. 
Thou  overpowerest  him  for  ever,  and  he  pass- 

eth  ; 
Thou  changest  his  countenance,  and   sendest 

him  away.  ^^^ 

His  sons  come   to  honor,  and   he  knoweth   it 

not ; 
They  are  brought  to  shame,  and  he  doth  not 

regard  it. 
Only  his  flesh  upon  him  suffereth  pain  ; 
And  his  soul  within  him  mourneth." 

Chap.  xiv.  18-22. 
all  numbered,  his  account  made  up  and  sealed,  ready  for  the 
final  award. 

"  So  that  still  garden  of  the  souls 
In  many  a  figured  leaf  enrolls 
The  total  world  since  life  began." 

149  Andyet^  —  '^o'Q  is  not  quite  ready  to  commit  himself  to 
the  fancy  that  he  has  indulged  ;  he  makes  his  way  cautiously, 
inductively.  The  mountains,  the  most  permanent  objects 
that  we  see,  gradually  crumble  down  to  dust.  Job  cannot 
ignore  this  analogy;  and  so  for  the  time  he  seems  to  be 
left  where  he  began  ;  but  his  thought  is  only  germinatmg,  and 
when  we  meet  it  again  it  will  have  grown  perceptibly. 


IX 

ELIPHAZ 

And  Eliphazthe  Temanite  answered,  and  said  : 

"  Shall  a  wise  man  answer  windy  knowledge, 
And  fill  his  belly  with  the  east  wind,  — 
Reasoning  with  a  word  that  availeth  not, 
And  with  speeches  wherein  is  no  profit  ?  5 

Nay,  and  thou  bringest  piety  to  nought, 
And  lessenest  devotion  before  God ; 
For  thine  iniquity  teacheth  thy  mouth. 

Chap.  xv.  1-5. 

Line  2.  A  wise  man.  Eliphaz,  who  comes  from  Teman, 
a  place  famed  for  its  wisdom,  evidently  prides  himself  on  be- 
longing to  the  guild  of  wise  men ;  which  guild  he  regards 
Job,  hitherto  an  eminent  member  thereof,  as  dishonoring  by 
his  strange  ideas,  which  to  Eliphaz  are  "  windy  knowledge." 

6.  To  the  friends'  conception  of  God,  which  demands  a 
hushed,  subdued,  unreasoning  worship,  Job  has  been  very 
irreverent,  not  to  say  rebellious.  They  cannot  reconcile  his 
wild  remonstrances  with  piety. 

8.  Thine  iniquity.  Eliphaz  can  attribute  Job's  bold  words 
only  to  high-handed  defiance  of  God ;  there  is  no  room  in  his 
system  for  honest  doubt  and  inquiry.  Even  Job's  assump- 
tion of  honesty,  as  would  seem  from  the  next  line,  looks  to 
him  like  craft. 


IX.  ELIPHAZ 


215 


And  thou  choosest  the  tongue  of  the  crafty. 
Thine  own  mouth  condemneth  thee,  and  not  I ; 
And  thy  lips  testify  against  thee.  11 


"  Wast  thou  born  the  first  man  > 
And  wast  thou  brought  forth  before  the  hills  .•* 
Didst  thou  listen  in  the  council  of  God } 
And  didst  thou  draw  wisdom  to  thyself }  15 

What  knowest  thou  that  we  know  not  t 
What  understandest  thou,  and  the  same  is  not 

in  us } 
Yea,   the  grey-haired,  yea,  the  aged   man,   is 

amongst  us, 
Fuller  of  days  than  thy  father. 

Are  the  consolations  of  God  too  small  for 

thee,  20 

And  a  word  spoken  unto  thee  kindly  .? 

Chap.  xv.  5-1  i. 

16.  Job's  ideas  so  strike  out  from  the  beaten  path  that  he 
talks  like  one  with  a  new  source  of  knowledge.  His  assertion 
that  he  knows  all  that  they  have  told  him  (section  viii.  6,  55), 
and  his  contempt  of  their  philosophy,  is  galling  to  Eliphaz. 

18.  The  aged  man,  —  not  only  the  old  men  who  are  actu- 
ally alive,  but  those  who  live  still  in  their  words  of  wisdom ; 
see  next  clause,  and  section  v.  15  sq.,  as  well  as  this  present 
section,  11.  32-35. 

20.  Consolatiofis  of  God, — such  is  the  name  that  Eliphaz 
gives  to  his  admonitions,  a  name  that  evidently  rankles  in 
Job's  mind  ;  see  section  xiv.  3. 


2l6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  IX. 

Why  hath  thy  heart  carried  thee  away, 
And  why  quiver  thine  eyes,  — 
That  thou  turnest  thy  spirit  against  God, 
And  lettest  forth  such  words  out  of  thy  mouth  ? 
What  is  mortal  man,  that  he  should  be  clean,  26 
And  that  the  woman  -  born   should  be  right- 


eous 


Behold,  in  His  holy  ones  He  putteth  no  trust. 
And  the  heavens  are  not  clean  in  His  eyes  ;   29 
How  much  less  the  abominable  and  corrupt,  — 
Man,  that  drinketh  in  perverseness  as  water ! 

II. 

"  I  will  show  thee  ;  listen  thou  to  me  ; 
And  that  which  I  have  seen  will  I  declare  ; 
Which  wise  men  tell,  and  have  not  hidden,  — 
Things  heard  from  their  fathers,  35 

Chap.  xv.  12-18. 

24.  Job  has  turned  his  spirit  against  the  friends'  concep- 
tion of  God,  a  Being  without  affection,  and  dealing  only  ac- 
cording to  iron  justice. 

26-31.  Eliphaz  here  repeats,  with  some  tendency  to  inten- 
sification, what  his  vision  revealed  to  him,  section  iii.  33-39. 
It  is  the  Old  Testament  doctrine  of  total  depravity  ;  and  how 
far  the  wise  men's  speculations  had  emphasized  it  is  apparent 
from  11.  30,  31. 

34-37.  These  lines  indicate  that  the  guild  of  Wise  Men,  of 
whom  we  first  hear  in  connection  with  Solomon,  was  already 
ancient  enough  to  have  established  a  philosophy  which  was 
an  implicit  uracle.  The  Wisdom  had  become  an  orthodoxy, 
priding  itself  on  its  antiquity,  and  on  the  fact  that  no  inter- 


IX.  ELIPHAZ  2 1 7 

Unto  whom  alone  the  land  was  given, 

And  no  stranger  hath  passed  among  them  :  — 

*  All  his  days  the  wicked  is  in  torment, 
And  the  number  of  his  years  reserved  to  the 

oppressor. 
A  voice  of  terrors  is  in  his  ears  ;  40 

In  peace  the  spoiler  cometh  upon  him. 
He  hath  no  hope  of  returning  out  of  darkness, 
And  he  is  marked  out  for  the  sword. 
He  wandereth  about  for  bread  —  where  is  it } 
He    knoweth  that  just    at  hand  is   a  day  of 

darkness,  45 

Trouble  and  anguish  make  him  afraid,  — 
Overcome  him,  as  a  king  ready  for  onset. 

Chap.  xv.  19-24. 

mixture  of  strange  doctrine  had  ever  been  permitted.  An 
international  philosophy  too  ;  for  Eliphaz  is  of  Teman,  and 
none  of  his  auditors  are  represented  as  of  Palestine.  All 
this  is  proof  of  the  ripened  age  of  the  Hebrew  Wisdom  at 
the  time  when  the  Book  of  Job  was  written. 

38.  Here  begin  the  words  of  the  fathers.  Eliphaz  brings 
up  this  lurid  picture  of  the  wicked  in  order  to  counteract 
Job's  intimations  that  the  wicked  are  prospered  while  the 
righteous  suffer.  Such  intimations,  in  direct  contradiction  to 
the  conclusions  of  wisdom,  seem  to  open  the  door  to  all  kinds 
of  violence  and  infidelity;  it  lets  down  the  barriers  of  doubt 
and  admits  indefinable  riotings  of  extravagant  doctrine.  So 
Eliphaz,  who  gives  the  tone  to  the  others,  desires  to  put  him- 
self strongly  on  record  for  God ;  hence  this  purely  theoretical 
picture  of  the  wicked,  drawn  not  for  truth,  but  for  theological 
consistency,  and  erring  grossly  by  exaggeration  ;  see,  for  in- 
stance, 11.  57,  58,  which  Job  will  show  to  be  palpably  untrue. 


2l8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  IX. 

Because  he  stretcheth  out  his  hand  against 

God, 
And   against   the  Almighty  maketh    himself 

strong,  — 
Runneth  against  Him  with  hardened  neck,     50 
With  the  thick  bosses  of  his  bucklers  ;  — 
Because  he  covereth  his  face  with  his  fat, 
And  gathereth  suet  upon  his  loins. 
And  dwelleth  in  desolated  cities, 
In  houses  that  no  man  would  inhabit,  55 

Which  are  doomed  to  be  heaps  of  stones  ;  — 
Therefore  he  shall  not  be  rich,  nor  shall  his 

substance  endure ; 
Neither  shall  their  possessions  spread  out  in 

the  earth. 
He  shall  not  escape  out  of  darkness  ; 

Chap.  xv.  25-30. 

48.  This  line  is  perhaps  a  covert  warning  to  Job  who 
seems  dangerously  near  doing  the  same  thing.  The  second 
clause,  or  apodosis,  of  the  sentence  begins  at  1.  57. 

50.  With  hardened  neck,  —  like  a  bull,  which  rushes  blindly 
against  whatever  rouses  its  wrath. 

52.  His  prosperity  makes  him  obtuse  and  unspiritual ;  in- 
different to  divine  things.  Eliphaz  has  exalted  ideas  of  spir- 
itual insight  and  keenness ;  compare  sections  iii.  44-47 ;  xv. 
18-21. 

54.  Desolated  cities,  —  perhaps  cities  that  he  himself,  as 
conqueror  or  as  heartless  rich  man,  has  desolated  in  order  to 
make  them  his  own  residence  ;  or  it  may  be  cities  that,  as 
dwelling-places  of  the  cursed  and  godless,  are  viewed  in  anti- 
cipation as  desolated ;  compare  section  iii.  49,  "  1  cursed  his 
habitation." 


IX.  ELIPHAZ  219 

A  flame  shall  dry  up  his  tender  shoots,  eo 

And  by  the  breath  of  His  mouth  shall  he  pass 
away. 
Let  him  not  trust  in  vanity  ;  he  is  deceived  ; 

For  vanity  shall  be  his  recompense. 

While  yet  his  time  is  not,  it  shall  be  paid  in 
full; 

And  his  palm-branch  is  no  longer  green,  65 

He  shall  cast  off,  like  a  vine,  his  unripe  grapes  ; 

And  shall  scatter  his  blossoms,  Hke  the  olive. 

For  the  company  of  the  profane  is  barren, 

And  fire  devoureth  the  tents  of  bribery. 

They   conceive  mischief,  and  bring  forth  ini- 
quity, 70 

And  their  womb  matureth  deceit.'  " 

Chap.  xv.  30-35. 

61.  Compare  Eliphaz's  earlier  words,  section  iii.  i6. 

62-67.  As  Eliphaz  has  apparently  no  conception  of  a  fu- 
ture state  of  retribution,  his  words  seem  to  assert  that  the 
wicked  will  have  their  fearful  recompense  in  this  life ;  Prov- 
erbs xi.  31  may  be  taken  as  the  key  to  his  and  the  friends' 
philosophy ;  a  position  that  Job,  when  the  time  comes,  will 
controvert  with  vigor. 

In  the  above  speech  of  Eliphaz  it  seems  to  be  the  writer's 
intention  to  make  him  overstate  his  doctrine  and  make  it  ob- 
viously untrue  to  fact ;  see  Introductory  Study,  p.  63. 


JOB 

And  Job  answered,  and  said  : 

''  I  have  heard  many  things  like  these  ! 
Tormenting  comforters  are  ye  all. 
Is  there  any  end  to  words  of  wind  ? 
Or  what    hath  provoked    theey  that    thou   an- 
swerest  thus  ?  5 

I  also  could  speak  as  ye  do. 
Were  your  soul  in  my  soul's  stead  ; 
I  could  compose  words  against  you ; 

Chap.  xvi.  1-4. 

Line  3.  Eliphaz  has  just  blamed  Job  (section  ix.  20)  for 
despising  the  "  consolations  of  God."  Job  retorts  that  the 
friends  are  administering  just  the  reverse  of  consolation ; 
they  are  tormenting  comforters. 

5.  Job  seems  to  recognize  in  Eliphaz's  answer  a  heat  and 
violence  of  assertion  so  much  beyond  the  demands  of  the 
subject  that  it  has  the  look  of  personal  vindictiveness.  He 
cannot  understand  how  such  honest  doubt  as  his  own  should 
rouse  such  odhitn  theologicmn. 

8.  Compose  words, — this  expression  contains  a  double  sar- 
casm. It  implies  that  their  minds  are  so  calm,  so  untouched 
by  deep  affliction,  that  they  can  have  leisure  to  put  together 
pleasing  and  faultless  rhetoric.      At  the  same  time  it  implies 


X  JOB  221 

And  I  could  shake  my  head  over  you  ; 

I  could  strengthen  you  —  with  my  mouth,       lo 

And  my  lip-sympathy  could  sustain  you. 


"  If  I  speak,  my  anguish  is  not  assuaged  ; 
And  if  I  forbear,  what  am  I  eased  ? 
Nay  —  now  hath  He  wearied  me  out ; 
Thou  hast  desolated  all  my  household,  is 

Chap.  xvi.  4-7. 

that  their  rhetoric  is  unreal,  unfaithful  to  fact,  being  merely 
words,  intellectual  performance,  not  the  outflow  of  the  heart. 

9.  Job  is  not  slow  to  recognize  what  their  general  pictures 
of  the  fate  of  the  wicked  mean  ;  they  are  shaking  their  head 
over  him. 

12.  Leaving  here  what  Eliphaz  has  said.  Job  returns  to  his 
own  line  of  thinking,  which  he  laid  down  at  the  end  of  sec- 
tion viii.  with  the  unsolved  problem  of  death.  It  is  the 
thought  of  his  suffering  that  he  now  takes  up,  and  especially 
with  reference  to  the  author  of  it. 

14.  The  notable  thing  of  this  whole  passage  is  that  Job 
hardly  knows  how  to  identify  the  author  of  his  misery.  He 
speaks  here  of  "  He,"  without  naming  God  ;  in  the  next 
breath  he  turns  directly  to  God  and  says  "Thou"  (1.  15); 
again  it  is  "  His  anger  "  (1.  19),  as  if  Job  were  reluctant  to 
tax  God  directly  with  it;  then  it  is  "mine  enemy"  (1.  21),  as 
if  it  were  some  fell  power  whom  he  dared  not  name.  Anon 
it  is  "  they"  (1.  22),  as  if  it  were  an  army  of  foes,  or  as  if  his 
friends  were  combined  with  the  unseen  powers.  Clearly  Job 
is  hesitating  to  ascribe  to  God  such  hatred  as  he  must  recog- 
nize in  his  punishment ;  he  is  groping  after  the  God  of  love, 
and  unwittingly  drawing  near  to  Him. 


222  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  X. 

And  Thou  hast  shriveled  me  up,  till  it  is  be- 
come a  witness  ; 

Yea,  my  leanness  riseth  up  against  me ; 

It  beareth  witness  to  my  face. 

His  anger  teareth  and  hateth  me ; 

He  gnasheth  upon  me  with  his  teeth  ;  20 

Mine  enemy  whetteth  his  eyes  against  me. 

They  gape  upon  me  with  their  mouth  ; 

With  scorn  they  smite  me  on  the  cheek  ; 

As  one  man  they  combine  themselves  against 
me. 

God  delivereth  me  to  the  perverse,  25 

And  into  the  hands  of  wicked  ones  He  casteth 
me  headlong. 


Chap.  XVI.  8-1 1. 

16,  17.  Extreme  emaciation  is  one  accompaniment  of  ele- 
phantiasis. 

19.  An  exaggerated  picture  this,  charged  with  the  bitter- 
ness of  long  anguish.  The  hatred  that  is  portrayed  in  it  is 
its  estranging  feature ;  such  hatred  is  so  opposite  to  Job's 
conception  of  the  Godlike  (compare  sections  vi.  75,  76; 
86-89 ;  viii.  144)  that  he  is  wholly  bewildered  by  it. 

22.  Who  are  "  they  ?  "  Certainly  not  the  friends.  I  think 
the  word  is  Job's  undefined  term  for  the  powers  of  evil ;  per- 
haps he  uses  the  plural  as  typical  of  the  manifold  wickedness 
that  opposes  the  good. 

25,  26.  The  perverse,  wicked  07ies,  seem  to  be  left  unde- 
fined, whether  men  or  unseen  powers.  Or  perhaps  it  may 
also  mean  that  this  punishment,  being  due  to  the  wicked, 
identifies  him  with  them,  compels  him  to  be  counted  in  their 
company. 


X.  7^^  ^^3 

I  was  at  ease,  —and  He  hath  shattered  me, 
Yea,  hath  seized  me  by  the  neck  and  dashed 

me  down  ; 
And  He  hath  set  me  up  for  His  mark. 
His  arrows  beset  me  round  about ;  so 

He  cleaveth  asunder  my  reins,  and  spare th  not ; 
He  poureth  out  my  gall  upon  the  earth  ; 
He  breaketh  me  through,  breach  on  breach  ; 
He  runneth  upon  me  as  a  mighty  man  of  war. 
I  have  sewed  sackcloth  upon  my  skin,  3.5 

And  have  thrust  my  horn  into  the  dust. 
My  face  is  burning  red  from  weeping, 
And  on  mine  eyehds  is  the  shadow  of  death  ; 
Yet  not  for  any  violence  in  my  hands  ; 
And  my  prayer  too  is  pure.  "o 

Chap.  xvi.  12-17. 
-.7  sqq  Job  describes  his  suffering  in  such  strong  terms 
that  it  is  most  natural  to  take  it  as  typical,  and  Job  himself 
as  a  type  of  the  suffering  righteous.  There  is  veritable  Mes- 
sianic language  here  (see  especially  11.  20-26),  such  as  we 
find  in  Second  Isaiah,  though  not  yet  so  ideabzed  mto  the 
suffering  Servant  of  Jehovah.     See  Introductory  Study,  p. 

-.Q    The  same  image  that  is  employed  in  section  iv.  103. 
.0-34   Job  habitually  uses  this  image  of  war  and  siege  to 
describe  God's  treatment  of  him  ;  see  sections  iv.  8 ;  vi.  107  ; 

xii     22—24' 

40.  A  profound  yet  very  practical  test  this  of  one  s  mtegnty 
before  God.  One  is  reminded  of  Coleridge's  Ancient  Man- 
ner, who  relates  that  as  soon  as  he  could  look  on  God  s  crea- 
tures with  love  instead  of  hatred,  "that  self-same  moment  I 
could  pray." 


224 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 


II. 


"  Earth,  cover  not  thou  my  blood, 
And  let  my  cry  have  no  resting-place  ! 
Even  now,  behold,  in  heaven  is  my  witness, 
And  mine  advocate  is  on  high. 
My  friends  are  my  scorners,  45 

But  unto  God  mine  eye  poureth  tears, 
That  HE  would  plead  for  man  with  God, 
And  as  the  son  of  man  for  his  neighbor. 

For  a  few  years  will  pass, 
And  I  shall  go  the  way  whence   I  shall  not 
return.  50 

Chap.  xvi.  18-22. 

42.  The  old  idea,  expressed  in  the  Cain  incident  (Genesis 
iv.  10),  that  a  murdered  man's  blood  cries  out  for  vengeance. 
Of  course  this  puts  in  the  strongest  terms  Job's  sense  of  in- 
justice. 

43.  Yet  in  the  next  breath  Job  turns  for  vindication  to  the 
very  quarter  whence  he  has  supposed  the  injustice  comes.  In 
his  thought  he  seems  to  divide  the  God  who  oppresses  him 
from  a  God  who  loves  him  and  represents  his  cause  ;  at  least 
he  commits  himself  by  a  mighty  reach  of  faith  to  an  Advo- 
cate on  high,  though  he  does  not  clearly  identify  such  an 
Advocate  fully  with  God. 

47.  Job  evidently  thinks  of  the  Advocate  as  the  Daysman 
whom  he  so  longed  for  (section  vi.  62-69) ;  and  we  see  the 
advance  he  has  made  in  faith  by  the  fact  that  the  being 
whose  existence  he  despairingly  denied  then  he  now  acknow- 
ledges with  passionate  assertion. 

48.  It  is  Job's  hunger  for  love,  his  longing  for  friendship, 
that  works  especially  to  drive  him  to  the  Advocate ;  see  1.  45. 

50.  Yet  here  his  idea  of  the  Advocate  stops;  it  must  take 


X.  JOB  225 

My  breath  is  spent  ;  my  days  are  quenched  ; 
For  me  are  left  only  the  graves. 
Were  it  not  that  mockery  is  with  me, 
Mine  eye  could  rest  calmly  on  their  taunts. 


HI. 

"  Give  now  the  pledge  ;  be  Thou  surety  for  me 
with  Thyself ;  —  55 

Who  is  he  that  striketh  hands  with  me } 

For  their  heart  hast  Thou  hid  from  understand- 
ing ; 

Therefore  wilt  Thou  not  exalt  them. 

Chap.  xvii.  1-4. 

another  surge  of  faith  before  he  connects  his  immortality 
therewith. 

52.  The  graves,  —  a  curious  plural.  Perhaps  the  word  was 
used  to  designate  the  cemetery,  the  place  of  graves. 

53'  54'  Job's  thought  of  the  Advocate  has  so  calmed  his 
mind  in  the  contemplation  of  death  that  he  speaks  as  if  con- 
tent to  go,  —  see,  also,  11.  72-83;  the  only  drawback  to  his 
calmness  is  that  he  has  "  mockery  "  to  meet  and  set  right. 
His  friends  are  saying  things  that  demand  answer ;  Job  refers 
doubtless  to  their  intemperate  assertions  about  the  wicked, 
which  he  will  soon  address  himself  to  refute. 

55,  56.  Full  of  the  idea  of  an  Advocate,  Job  turns  sponta- 
neously to  God  as  if  to  make  a  covenant ;  then  he  seems  to 
pause,  as  if  uncertain  whether  to  identify  the  Advocate  with 
God  or  not. 

57.  The  insight  that  Job's  faith  has  given  him  makes  him 
see  also  that  the  friends  are  spiritually  blind ;  he  has  mis- 
trusted this  before  (see  section  viii.  2,  3)  ;  now  he  knows  it. 
From  this  point  on  he  is  their  open  antagonist. 


226  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  X. 

'  He  betrayeth  friends  for  a  prey, 
And  the  eyes  of  his  children  fail/  eo 

And  He  hath  made  me  a  by-word  of  peoples  ; 
And  I  am  become  as  one  to  be  spit  upon  in 

the  face. 
Dim  too,  from  sorrow,  is  mine  eye, 
And  my  members  are  as  a  shadow,  all  of  them. 
For  this  shall  the  upright  be  amazed,  65 

And  the  pure  shall  be  roused  to  anger  against 

the  profane  ; 
But  the  righteous  shall  hold  on  his  way. 
And  the  clean  of  hands  shall  wax  stronger  and 

stronger. 
But  you  —  all  of  you  —  return  ye  !  and  come 

now ! 
For  I  shall  not  find  a  wise  man  among  you.     to 

Chap.  xvii.  5-10. 

59,  60.  Presumably  an  aphorism  or  proverbial  expression 
which  Job  here  quotes  as  applicable  to  his  friends.  Whoever 
betrays  friends  incurs  a  spiritual  blindness  which  descends  to 
his  posterity.  He  has  already  said  bitterly  of  them  that  they 
would  make  traffic  over  their  friend  (section  iv.  55)  ;  he  has 
convicted  them  also  of  speaking  what  is  wrong,  for  God  (sec- 
tion viii.  65).  Hence  the  pertinence  of  the  proverb,  now  that 
he  is  fully  aware  of  their  spiritual  blindness. 

61.  Job  seems  to  take  up  typical  language  again,  and  to 
look  upon  himself  as  an  object-lesson  to  the  ages. 

65-68.  This  passage  seems  to  prophesy  that  the  bounds 
and  definitions  of  righteousness  are  to  be  henceforth  more 
clear  by  reason  of  his  affliction  ;  his  trial  is  to  be  the  crucible 
in  which  great  truths  are  wrought  out. 

69,  70.  To  emphasize  how  far  his  thouight  has  borne  him 


X.  yoB  227 


IV. 

"  My  days  are  past ; 

My  plans  are  broken  off, — 

The  treasures  of  my  heart. 

Night  they  put  for  day  ; 

The  light  draweth  near  the  face  of  darkness.  75 

If  I  have  any  hope,  the  grave  is  my  house  ; 

I  have  spread  out  my  bed  in  the  darkness. 

To  corruption  I  have  said,  *  My  father  thou  ! ' 

*  My  mother,  and  my  sister  ! '  —  to  the  worm. 

And  where  is  now  my  hope  ?  so 

Yea,  my  hope  —  who  shall  discover  it } 

Will  the  bars  of  Sheol  fall  down. 

When  together  there  is  rest  in  the  dust }  " 

Chap.  xvii.  11-16. 

beyond  them,  he  calls  ironically  to  his  friends,  and  throws 
despite  on  their  wisdom. 

71  sqq.  Job  accepts  the  near  doom  of  death,  and  draws  con- 
sciously towards  it,  but  with  much  more  calmness  than  here- 
tofore, as  if,  whether  explicable  or  not,  it  were  surely  right. 
This  is  certainly  a  step  gained. 

76.  The  grave,  —  literally,  Sheol ;  but  the  word  was  often 
used  as  we  use  the  word  grave  ;  see  note,  section  iv.  80. 


XI 

BILDAD 

And  Bildad  the  Shuhite  answered,  and  said  : 

"  How  long  will  ye  hunt  for  words  ? 
Consider  well,  — and  afterward  will  we  speak. 
Wherefore  are  we  accounted  as  the  brute  — 
Are  regarded  as  vile  in  your  eyes  ?  5 

Thou  that  tearest  thyself  in  thy  rage, 
Shall  the  earth  be  forsaken  for  thy  sake, 
And  the  rock  be  removed  from  its  place  ? 

Chap,  xviii.  1-4. 

Line  2.  Addressed  to  the  other  friends  ;  alluding  to  Job's 
reproach  in  the  foregoing  section  (1.  8),  that  their  pleas  were 
only  words,  and  implying  that  deeper  arguments,  founded 
more  on  the  laboriously  sought  truth  of  things,  must  be  ad- 
duced. 

4.  Accounted  as  the  bj'ute,  —  this  is  merely  the  coarser  and 
bitterer  language  in  which  Bildad  interprets  Job's  assertion, 
•'  Their  heart  hast  Thou  hid  from  understanding "  (section 
X-  57)- 

6.  Job's  profound  disturbance  of  soul  seems  to  Bildad  like 
rage,  and  to  oppose  the  well-established  conclusions  of  Wis- 
dom seems  to  him  like  the  childish  madness  which  would 
attempt  to  overthrow  mountains. 


XL  BILDAD  229 


"  Verily,  the  light  of  the  wicked  shall  go  out, 

And  the  flame  of  his  fire  shall  not  shine.         w 

Light  darkeneth  in  his  tent, 

And  his  lamp  above  him  goeth  out. 

Straitened  are  the  strides  of  his  might  ; 

And  his  own  counsel  casteth  him  down. 

For  he  is  cast  into  a  net  by  his  own  feet ;        is 

And  he  chooseth  his  way  over  a  pitfall. 

The  trap  seizeth  his  heel  ; 

The  snare  layeth  fast  hold  upon  him  ; 

Hidden  in  the  ground  for  him  is  a  cord, 

And  a  noose  for  him  in  the  pathway.  20 

Chap,  xviii.  5-10. 

9.  Bildad  takes  up  the  same  theme  that  Eliphaz  has  laid 
down,  — the  fate  of  the  wicked ;  but  he  carries  out  his  prom- 
ise (1.  3)  to  ground  it  more  carefully  in  truth  by  hinting  con- 
tinually at  Job's  condition,  as  a  case  in  point. 

Line  9  is  a  stock  assertion  of  Wisdom  (see  Proverbs  xxiv. 
20),  which  Job  submits,  in  section  xiv.  32,  to  the  test  of  ob- 
served fact. 

11.  Perhaps  an  allusion  to  Job's  complaint  that  God  had 
«'  desolated  his  household,"  section  x.  15  ;  and  the  obverse  of 
Eliphaz's  assertion,  section  iii.  92. 

12.  His  lamp  above  /;/w,  — the  great  lamp  suspended  in 
the  top  of  the  tent. 

13.  The  wicked  is  represented  as  a  wealthy  and  powerful 
man,  in  just  such  a  condition  as  Job's  has  been. 

15-22.  A. kind  of  exaggeration  of  Eliphaz's  words,  section 
ix.  38-43,  and  making  the  wicked  man's  fate  more  definitely 
the  consequence  of  his  own  foolish  counsel  and  infatuation. 


230  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XL 

Round  about  him  terrors  make  him  afraid, 

And  chase  him  away  at  his  heels. 

His  might  standeth  hunger-bitten  ; 

And  ruin  is  ready  at  his  side. 

It  shall  devour  the  parts  of  his  skin  ;  25 

It  shall  devour  his  members  —  the  firstborn  of 

death. 
He  is  torn  out  of  his  tent  wherein  he  trusted, 
And  he  is  led  away  to  the  king  of  terrors. 
There  shall  dwell  in  his  tent  that  which  is  none 

of  his  ; 
Brimstone  shall  be  showered  on  his  habitation. 
Underneath,  his  roots  dry  up ;  3i 

And  from  above,  his  branch  withereth. 
His  memory  perisheth  out  of  the  earth ; 
And  no  longer  hath  he  a  name  on  the  face  of 

the  fields. 
They  drive  him  out  from  light  into  darkness,  35 

Chap,  xviii.  11-18. 

21,  22.  Bildad  apparently  alludes  here,  as  Eliphaz  has  al- 
ready alluded,  section  ix.  40,  to  Job's  description  of  his  terri- 
fying visions,  section  iv.  90,  91. 

23-26.  An  allusion  to  Job's  emaciation  and  disfigured  con- 
dition ;  see  sections  x.  16-18,  64 ;  iv.  71,  72. 

27.  Is  not  this  a  heartless  allusion  to  Job  as  a  leper,  cast 
out  of  his  tent  to  the  ash-heap  outside  of  the  city,  with  an 
ill-concealed  threat  of  death  added  thereto  t 

30.  Apparently  an  allusion  to  the  inhabitants  of  Sodom, 
Genesis  xix.  24,  who  were  historical  types  of  extreme  wicked- 
ness  requited. 

35.    They,  —  perhaps  the  mysterious  unseen  powers  of  Ne- 


XL  BILDAD  231 

And  chase  him  from  the  world. 

Offspring  and  descendant  hath  he  none  among 
his  people ; 

Nor  is  there  an  escaped  one  in  his  dwelling- 
places. 

At  his  day  shall  they  of  later  time  be  aston- 
ished, 

As  they  that  were  before  were  seized  with  ter- 
ror. 40 

11. 

"  Verily,  such  are  the  dwellings  of  the  wicked  ; 
•And  this  is  the  place  of  him  that  knoweth  not 
God." 

Chap,  xviii.  18-21. 

mesis  and  vengeance,  whom  Job  has  already  referred  to  as 
pursuing  him,  section  x,  22. 

37.  Job's  children,  it  will  be  remembered,  have  perished  in 
.his  calamity. 

39,  40.  Job  conceives  that  the  righteous  shall  be  amazed 
at  his  case,  section  x.  65-68 ;  Bildad  makes  the  astonish- 
ment due  to  his  wickedness.  This  same  astonishment  the 
friends  have  already  shown,  section  i.  134-140;  see  also  sec- 
tion iv.  43,  and  note. 


XII 

JOB 

And  Job  answered,  and  said  : 

"  How  long  will  ye  vex  my  soul, 

And  break  me  in  pieces  with  words  ? 

These  ten  times  do  ye  reproach  me ; 

Ye  are  not  ashamed  to  act  as  strangers  to  me.    5 


"  And  be  it  of  a  truth  that  I  have  erred, 
With  me  remaineth  mine  error. 

Chap.  xix.  r-4. 

Line  2.  Bildad's  speech  has  been,  as  we  have  seen,  an  ex- 
asperating series  of  allusions  to  Job's  diseased  condition,  as 
illustrating  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  and  as  prophesying 
worse  things.  Job  does  not  yet  answer  these  insinuations ; 
but  they  are  not  lost  on  him —  only  delayed. 

5.  As  strangers,  —  this  idea  furnishes  the  cue  to  the  present 
section.  They  have  ceased  to  be  friends  to  him  ;  they  coolly 
doom  him  to  an  awful  fate,  as  if  they  had  never  had  bonds  of 
sympathy  with  him.  To  one  like  Job,  who  yearns  for  affec- 
tion and  sympathy  (see  section  iv.  56-61),  this  fact  is  the  bit- 
terest drop  in  his  cup. 

7.  That  is,  Job's  error,  even  supposing  it  real,  is  not  a  mat- 


XII.  JOB  233 

If  in  sooth  ye  magnify  yourselves  against  me, 
And  prove  against  me  my  reproach, 
Know  then  that  God  hath  wronged  me,  10 

And  hath  encompassed  me  with  His  net. 
Behold,  I  cry  out  —  violence  !  —  and  am  not 
heard ; 
I  shriek  for  help,  and  there  is  no  judgment. 
He  hath  fenced  up  my  way,  and  I  cannot  pass  ; 
And  over  my  paths  hath  He  set  darkness.       is 
My  glory  hath  He  stripped  off  from  me. 
And  He  hath  taken  the  crown  from  my  head. 
He  breaketh  me  down  on  every  side,  —  and  I 

am  gone ; 
And  He  uprooteth,  like  a  tree,  my  hope. 
He  maketh  His  anger  burn  against  me,  20 

And  counteth  me  as  He  doth  His  enemies. 

Chap.  xix.  5-1  i. 

ter  that  concerns  them,  or  that  should  operate  to  estrange 
them  from  him  ;  it  is  wholly  between  him  and  God. 

8-1 1.  In  these  words  Job  makes  his  final  defiant  answer  to 
his  friends'  insinuations ;  they  are  fastening  his  "  reproach  " 
upon  him  as  the  deserving  cause  ;  Job  maintains  unalterably 
that  God  has  wronged  him.  If  that  be  wickedness,  let  them 
make  the  most  of  it. 

12  sqq.  As  in  burning  indignation  Job  has  portrayed  his 
affliction  before  God,  section  x.  12-40,  so  now  before  his 
friends,  in  calmer  and  more  pensive  mood,  he  enlarges  on  his 
evil  case.  It  is  merely  an  amplification  and  summary  of  what 
he  has  said  before. 

14,  15.  Compare  section  ii.  47,  48. 

18.  Compare  section  x.  80-83. 


234  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XII. 

Together  come  His  troops  ; 

And  they  cast  up  their  way  against  me, 

And  encamp  round  about  my  tent. 


ir. 

**  My  brethren  hath  He  removed  far  from  me  ;  25 
And  mine  acquaintance  are  wholly  estranged 

from  me. 
My  kinsfolk  stand  aloof  ; 
And  my  familiar  friends  have  forgotten  me. 
Dwellers  in  my  house,  and  my  maids,  — 
As  a  stranger  they  account  me  ;  30 

I  am  become  an  alien  in  their  eyes. 
I  call  to  my  servant,  and  he  answereth  not ; 
I  have  to  entreat  him  with  my  mouth. 
My  breath  is  strange  to  my  wife, 
And  I  am  loathsome  to  the  sons  of  my  body.  35 
Even  the  boys  despise  me  ; 

Chap.  xix.  12-18. 

22-24.  The  recurring  figure  of  a  siege  ;  compare  section  x. 
30-34,  and  note  there, 

25  sqq.  Job  now  enlarges  on  what  he  suggested,  1.  5.  As 
in  section  x.  12-40  he  approached  his  belief  in  an  Advocate 
tJirough  the  thought  of  God's  enmity  to  him,  so  here  he  ap- 
proaches his  belief  in  a  Redeemer,  a  next  of  kin,  through  the 
thought  of  the  friendship  that  fails  on  earth,  which  thought 
he  here  sets  forth  in  its  strongest  expression.  It  is  in  this 
thought  of  his  loneliness  that  Job  reaches  here  the  profound- 
est  depth  of  his  trial  ;  here  also  we  are  brought  nearest  to 
the  yearning  human  heart  of  the  man. 


XII.  JOB  235 

I  try  to  rise,  and  they  speak  jeeringly  against 

me. 
All  mine  inward  friends  abhor  me  ; 
And  those  I  love  have  turned  against  me. 
My  bone  cleaveth  to  my  skin  and  to  my  flesh,  40 
And  shrunk  away  is  the  covering  of  my  teeth. 
Have  pity  on  me,  have  pity  on  me,  O  ye  my 

friends  ! 
For  the  hand  of  God  hath  touched  me  ! 
Why  do  ye  persecute  me  as  God, 
And  are  not  satisfied  with  my  flesh  ?  45 

III. 

"  Oh  that  now  my  words  were  written  ! 
Oh  that  they  were  inscribed  in  a  book ! 

Chap.  xix.  iS-23. 

38.  Mme  inzvard  friends,  —  literally, /?z^;z  of  my  secret  in- 
tercourse, or  cotmsel.  The  same  word  is  used  for  the  friend- 
ship of  God,  section  xx.  7. 

41.  Of  this  line,  whose  expression  is  very  obscure  in  the 
original,  I  take  the  view  of  Dr.  Tayler  Lewis.  It  seems  to 
describe  that  corpse-like  appearance  of  the  leper,  wherein  the 
face  seems  lil<e  a  half-covered  skull,  with  teeth  protruding 
and  hollow  eyes. 

44,  45.  That  is,  why  take  God's  prerogative  in  hand,  and 
give  reproach  merely  because  He  has  inflicted  suffering.  It 
is  a  plea  to  let  natural  feelings  of  compassion  have  free 
course,  and  not  to  bestow  their  regards  and  reproaches  theo- 
retically. 

46.  The  extreme  depth  of  woe  to  which  Job  has  just 
reached  is  immediately  followed  by  a  height  of  conviction  so 
great  and  significant  that  Job  would  make  the  expression  of 


236  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XII. 

That,  with  iron  pen,  and  with  lead, 

They  were  graven  in  the  rock,  for  ever ! 

I  know  that  my  redeemer  liveth  ;  so 

That  he  will  stand,  survivor,  over  the  dust  ; 

And  after  my  skin  is  gone,  they  will  rend  this 

body, 

Chap.  xix.  24-26. 

it  monumental,  permanent.  In  the  same  way  Job  has  called 
solemn  attention  before  to  assertions  that  in  his  view  are 
especially  important ;  see  section  viii.  63,  ']'],  85.  This,  how- 
ever, as  being  his  supreme  confession,  reached  by  long  strug- 
gle through  darkness,  is  prefaced  by  the  most  emphatic  note 
of  attention. 

48.  A  reference  to  the  ancient  manner  of  engraving  inscrip- 
tions on  the  rocks.  After  being  cut  in,  the  lines  were  filled 
with  molten  lead,  and  thus  made  more  legible  and  permanent. 

50.  My  7-edee7fjer,  —  so  it  seems  best  to  translate  here, 
rather  than  disturb  the  associations  of  the  passage  ;  because 
not  enough  would  be  gained  by  the  more  accurate  term 
Avenger  to  pay  for  the  change.  The  word  denotes  the  next 
of  kin,  whose  duty  it  was  to  avenge  the  blood  of  a  murdered 
man  (see  Numbers  xxxv.  19),  and  to  succor  the  bereaved  and 
needy  (see  Ruth  iii.  9-13;  iv.  1-8).  With  wonderful  skill  Job 
chooses  the  word  that  gathers  into  itself  all  that  he  has  longed 
for ;  it  means  one  who  will  befriend  him,  avenge  his  wrong,  be 
his  Daysman,  make  God  his  friend  again.  Note  too  that  it  is 
the  word  to  which  he  was  led  through  the  thought  of  failing 
earthly  friendship,  just  as  the  word  Advocate  was  the  term  to 
which  he  was  led  through  the  thought  of  God's  injustice  and 
enmity ;  section  x.  44. 

52.  T/iey  will  rend,  —  the  mysterious  they  again  (see  sec- 
tions X.  22  ;  xi.  35) ;  unnamable  powers  of  destiny.  —  This 
body ;  only  the  word  this  is  expressed  in  the  original ;  and 
Job  may  be  thought  of  as  indicating  by  a  gesture  his  wasted 
frame,  too  loathsome  and  disfigured  to  be  named. 


XII.  JOB  237 

And  I,  from  my  flesh,  shall  see  God ; 
Whom  I  shall  see,  I,  for  myself  ; 
Whom  mine  eyes  shall  behold,  a  stranger  no 
more.  5,5 

Oh,  for  this  my  reins  consume  within  me  ! 

IV. 

"  If  ye  say,  *  How  we  will  persecute  him  ! ' 

Chap.  xix.  26-28. 

53.  From  my  flesh,  —  in  this  translation  I  have  preserved 
exactly  the  same  ambiguity  that  exists  in  the  original :  it  may 
mean  either  being  in  the  flesh  and  looking  out,  or  being  out 
of  the  flesh.  The  context  favors  the  latter  meaning  ;  but 
nothing  positive  can  be  gathered,  nor  do  I  believe  the  dis- 
crimination was  in  the  author's  mind  between  disembodied 
immortality  and  resurrection  of  the  body,  I  am  inclined  to 
think  it  is  an  emphatic  way  of  saying  "  in  my  truest  self,"  the 
wordyf<?J•/^  being  used  somewhat  as  the  word  for  boue  is  used 
in  a  common  Hebrew  idiom  ;  e.  g.,  "  as  the  bone  of  heaven," 
for  "  as  the  heaven  itself,"  Exodus  xxiv.  lo. 
-  55.  Even  yet  Job  does  not  clearly  identify  the  Redeemer 
with  God ;  he  merely  says  that  in  consequence  of  the  Re- 
deemer's living  and  representing  his  cause  he  shall  see  God, 
and  God  will  be  his  friend.  Still  the  remarkable  Messianic 
idea  lingers,  which  we  have  noticed  in  other  passages  ;  and 
we  hardly  know  whether  the  author  is  thinking  of  one  being 
or  two.  But  there  is  a  great  advance  beyond  the  idea  of  sec- 
tion x.  43-48  ;  for  there  God  had  not  ceased  lo  be  an  enemy 
who  was  to  be  conciliated  through  an  Advocate  ;  here  God 
is  "  a  stranger  no  more." 

57-61.  It  is  quite  in  accordance  with  Job's  custom  else- 
where (see  sections  x.  69,  70 ;  xiv.  68,  69 ;  xvi.  92,  93)  to  fol- 
low one  of  his  passages  of  deep  and  true  insight  by  a  note  of 
warning  in  which  the  friends'  purblindness   is   recognized. 


238  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XII. 

And  that  the  root  of  the  matter  is  found  in 

me,  — 
Be  ye  afraid  of  the  sword ; 
For  there  is  wrath    against    the    sins  of    the 

sword,  60 

That  ye  may  know  there  is  a  judgment." 

Chap.  xix.  28,  29. 

This  is  the  most  solemn  passage  of  the  kind,  as  befits  the 
lofty  reach  of  faith  that  precedes  it. 

58.  That  is,  if  ye  still  maintain  (compare  11.  8,  9)  that  I  am 
the  culprit,  that  the  cause  of  this  punishment  lies  in  my  guilt. 
Job  seems  to  think,  what  also  has  been  intimated  before  (see 
sections  iii.  44,  note ;  iv.  61,  note ;  see  also  xix.  4-7),  that  his 
spiritual  insight  achieving  this  revelation  of  a  vindication  after 
death  proves  his  heart  and  conduct  also  pure.  Both  he  and 
the  friends  would  deny  true  insight  to  a  wicked  man. 

59.  That  is,  the  sword  of  God's  wrath,  of  which  they  are  in 
danger  if  they  set  themselves  against  a  conviction  so  pure  as 
this  of  his. 

From  this  point  onward,  Job  no  more  struggles  with  the 
problem  of  death  ;  a  fact  which  indicates  that  the  immortality 
here  recognized  is  henceforth  taken  for  granted.  Nor  is  God 
any  more  regarded  as  an  enemy ;  note  rather  the  different  at- 
titude in  section  xvi.  4-13. 


XIII 

ZOPHAR 

And   Zophar  the  Naamathite  answered,   and 
said  : 

"  Therefore  do  my  thoughts  give  me  answer, 
And  for  such  cause  is   this  my  haste  within 

me,  — 
Chiding,  to  my  reproof,  must  I  hear ! 
And  the  spirit  out  of  mine  understanding  re- 

plieth.  5 

Chap.  xx.  1-3. 

Line  2.  Therefore,  —  referring  forward  to  line  4.  Zophar 
replies  with  headlong  haste,  being  incensed  at  Job's  insinu- 
ation that  they  who  have  preached  repentance  to  him  are 
themselves  in  imminent  danger  of  sin.  —  My  thoughts,  —  the 
same  word  that  is  used  of  the  "  wandering  thoughts "  of 
Eliphaz's  vision  ;  see  section  iii.  24,  note.  It  may  indicate 
here  the  tumultuous  emotions  that  have  been  roused  by  his 
indignation,  a  rush  and  confusion  of  thought. 

5.  Spirit,  —  in  the  sense  of  zeal.  In  section  xi.  Bildad  pro- 
fessed to  give  a  well-considered  speech  (1.  3),  and  made  it  a 
series  of  undisguised  allusions  to  the  various  features  of  Job's 
calamity,  which  he  employed  as  a  portrayal  of  the  wicked; 
Zophar,  impelled  by  hot  zeal  and  indignation,  draws  a  picture 
that  is  declamatory,  intemperate,  and  largely  fanciful,  having 
little  if  any  traceable  connection  with  sober  fact. 


240 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XIII. 


I. 

"  What !  thou  surely  knowest  this,  from  of  old, 
Since  Adam  was  placed  upon  the  earth, 
That  the  triumph  of  the  wicked  is  short-lived. 
And  the  joy  of  the  ungodly  but  for  a  moment. 
Though  his  summit  mount  up  to  heaven,         lo 
And  his  head  reach  unto  the  clouds, 
Yet  like  his  own  dung  shall  he  perish  utterly  ; 
They  that  see  him  shall  say,  Where  is  he  ? 
Like  a  dream  he  flitteth,  and  is  no  more  found. 
And   he  is  chased  away,  as  a  spectre  of  the 

night.  15 

Eye  hath  looked  upon  him,  —  it  looketh  not 

again  ; 

Chap.  xx.  4-9. 

6.  From  of  old,  —  what  Zophar  says,  though  exaggerated 
by  passion  and  rhetoric,  is  really  one  of  the  long-settled  re- 
sults of  Wisdom,  which. he  is  astonished  to  hear  traversed. 

8.  The  triumph  of  the  wicked,  —  perhaps  an  allusion  to 
Job's  solemn  exaltation  in  his  discovery  of  a  Redeemer,  sec- 
tion xii.  50-56.  Strange  blindness,  that  would  view  such  a 
triumph  as  the  triumph  of  the  wicked  ! 

ID.  The  rhetorical  tendency  of  Zophar's  speech  is  manifest 
especially  in  his  labored  amplification  of  each  picture  that  he 
brings  up,  with  the  evident  attempt  to  make  everything  as 
vivid  and  intense  as  possible;  note  this  in  11.  10-15;  22-31  ; 
33;  3^40;  47-51-  He  lets  his  imagination  riot  in  terrific 
images. 

16.  Hath  looked,  —  the  original  word  means  a  mere  momen- 
tary glance,  as  if  he  had  vanished  in  a  twinkling. 


XIII.  ZOPHAR  241 

And  no  more  shall  his  place  behold  him. 
His  sons  shall  seek  the  favor  of  the  poor  ; 
And  his  hands  shall  restore  his  wealth. 
His  bones  are  full  of  his  youth,  20 

But  it  shall  He  down  with  him  in  the  dust. 

II. 
"Though  evil  is  sweet  in  his  mouth, 
And  he  hideth  it  under  his  tongue, 
Spareth  it,  and  is  loath  to  let  it  go, 
And  holdeth  it  back  in  his  palate,  25 

Yet  in  his  bowels  his  bread  is  changed. 
It  is  the  gall  of  asps  within  him. 
He   hath  swallowed  down    riches,    and    must 

vomit  them  up  ; 
Out  of  his  belly  God  will  cast  them  forth. 
It  is  the  poison  of  asps  that  he  sucketh  in  ;     so 
The  tongue  of  the  adder  shall  slay  him. 
Never  more  shall  he  gaze  upon  the  streams. 
The  floods,  the  brooks  of  honey  and  cream. 

Chap.  xx.  9-17. 

20.  His  youth,  —  the  strength,  the  vigor,  of  youth. 

22  sqq.  Another  rhetorical  tendency  is  manifest  here,  in 
Zophar's  evident  desire  to  trace  the  wicked  man's  fate  as  a 
history,  from  the  height  of  his  prosperity  to  the  fearful  dis- 
aster at  death, 

26.  It  is  to  this  that  Zophar  reduces  the  prosperity  of  the 
wicked,  —  the  wicked  seeming  to  enjoy,  perhaps  really  enjoy- 
ing, the  first  taste  of  evil,  but  finding  it  unreal  and  bitter  to 
his  soul.  A  picture  not  without  basis,  but  conceived  here  in 
mere  fancy. 


242  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XIII. 

He  must  restore  the  fruit  of  toil,  and  not  de- 
vour it ; 
As  borrowed  wealth  it  is,  and  he  hath  no  joy 
therein ;  35 

Because  he  oppressed,  he  abandoned  the  poor, 
Seized  upon  a  house  that  he  would  not  build,  — 
Because  he  knew  not  rest  in  his  belly. 
In  his  greed  would  let  nothing  escapCj  — 
No,  not  a  shred  that  he  could  devour,  —  40 

Therefore  his  prosperity  shall  not  endure  ; 
In  the  fullness  of  his  abundance  shall  he  be 

straitened  ; 
Upon   him    shall   come    every    hand    of    the 
wretched. 
So  shall  it  be,  until  his  belly  is  filled  : 
He  shall  cast  upon  him  the  fire  of  His  wrath,  45 
And  shall  rain  it  upon  him  with  his  food. 
Fleeth  he  from  the  iron  armor. 
The  bow  of  brass  pierceth  him  through  ; 
He  draweth  it  out,  — and  it  cometh  forth  from 

his  body, 
The  gleaming  shaft,  from  his  gall,  —  50 

Terrors  come  upon  him  ! 

All  darkness  is  laid  up  for  his  hid  treasures ; 

Chap.  xx.  18-26. 

37.  Compare  section  ix.  54-56.  The  friends  seem  to  have 
in  mind  some  notorious  evil  of  rich  men  seizing  houses  by 
violence  and  turninj;  them  to  their  own  use. 


XIII.  ZOPHAR  243 

A  fire  not  blown  shall  consume  him  ; 

It  shall  feed  upon  the  last  remnant  in  his  tent. 

Heaven  shall  reveal  his  iniquity,  55 

And  earth  shall  rise  up  against  him. 

The  increase  of  his  house  shall  depart, 

Shall  flow  away  in  the  day  of  His  wrath. 

III. 

"  Such  is  the  portion  of  the  wicked  man,  from 

God, 
And  the  heritage  decreed   from   the   Mighty 

One."  60 

Chap.  xx.  26-29. 

53.  A  fire  not  blown,  — self-enkindled,  so  eager  is  it  to  burn. 

59,  60.  It  seems  to  be  the  author's  intention  in  this  speech 
to  run  the  friends'  threefold  portrayal  of  the  fate  of  the 
wicked  into  mere  froth  and  declamation,  which  soon  Job's 
honest  sense  will  sweep  away.  The  whole,  though  the  most 
violent  and  vivid  of  the  three,  is  after  all  vague  :  the  horrible 
woes  it  denounces  on  the  wicked  are  not  referred  to  cause 
and  ground,  nor  are  they  easily  verifiable  in  fact. 


XIV 

JOB 

And  Job  answered,  and  said  : 

"  Hear,  oh  hear  ye  my  word, 

And  be  this  the  *  consolations  '  ye  give. 

Suffer  me,  and  I  will  speak ; 

And  after  I  have  spoken,  —  then  mock  thou.  5 

I. 

"  As  for  me,  is  my  complaint  unto  man  ? 

Chap.  xxi.  1-4. 

The  three  friends  have  all  spoken  m  the  same  strain,  por- 
traying in  violent  and  exaggerated  terms  the  doom  of  the 
wicked ;  but  to  their  arguments  Job  has  deigned  no  answer 
until  now.  The  present  speech,  however,  squarely  traverses 
what  they  have  said,  and  indicates  that  he  has  merely  waited 
for  what  all  had  to  urge,  that  he  might  answer  all  of  them  at 
once. 

Line  3.  Consolations,  —  an  allusion  ta"the  consolations  of 
God  "  (section  ix.  20),  with  which  Eliphaz  has  plied  him. 

6.  Zophar's  heat  and  haste  arose  from  the  "  chiding"  that 
he  must  hear  (section  xiii.  4),  as  if  it  were  a  personal  matter  ; 
Job's  complaint  is  directed  not  against  man,  but  against  what 
he  must  see  in  the  world. 


XIV.  JOB  245 

And  wherefore  should  not  my  spirit  be  short- 
ened ? 

Turn  ye  unto  me,  and  be  amazed, 

And  lay  hand  upon  mouth. 

Even  as  I  think  thereon,  I  am  dismayed,         10 

And  shuddering  seizeth  on  my  flesh. 
Wherefore  do  the  wicked  live, 

Become  old,  yea,  wax  mighty  in  power  ."^ 

Their  seed  is  established  around  them,  in  their 
sight. 

And  their  offspring  before  their  eyes.  15 

Their  houses  are  peace,  far  from  fear ; 

And  no  rod  of  God  is  upon  them. 

Their  bull  gendereth,  and  doth  not  fail ; 

Chap.  xxi.  4-10. 

7.  Alluding,  perhaps,  to  what  Eliphaz  has  said  to  him,  sec- 
tion ix.  22-25,  3.nd  Bildad,  section  xi.  6. 

8-1 1.  The  friends  have  so  reveled  in  their  highly  colored 
descriptions  that  they  have  almost  exulted  over  the  fate  of 
the  wicked ;  Job,  on  the  other  hand,  full  of  sympathy  with 
right  and  truth,  must,  view  with  amazement  the  confused 
order  of  things :  it  is  not  what  he  wishes  to  see. 

12  sqq.  This  is  the  appeal  to  plain  and  palpable  fact  which 
Job  sets  over  against  the  friends'  theory.  It  is  essentially 
the  expansion  of  what  he  has  touched  upon  before ;  see  sec- 
tions vi.  45,  77  ;  viii.  12-14. 

14  sqq.  Of  course  Job  does  not  mean  to  say  that  they  have 
all  this  material  welfare  because  they  are  wicked  ;  that  is  not 
the  issue.  His  point,  made  against  the  whole  tenor  of  the 
friends'  arguments,  is  simply  that,  being  wicked,  they  are  not 
treated  according  to  their  wickedness.  Contrary  to  the  law 
of  Hebrew  Wisdom  they  are  prospered  in  the  earth ;  they 


246  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XIV. 

Lightly  calveth  their  cow,  and  casteth  not  her 

calf. 
They  send  forth  their  little  ones  like  a  flock,  20 
And  their  children  dance. 
They  sing  to  timbrel  and  harp, 
And  rejoice  at  the  sound  of  the  pipe. 
They  fill  out  their  days  in  weal ; 
And  in  a  moment   they    sink    down    to  the 

grave.  25 

And  yet  they  said  unto  God,  *  Depart  from  us  ; 
The  knowledge  of  Thy  ways  we  desire  not. 
What  is  the  Almighty,  that  we  should  serve 

Him.? 
And  what  gain  we,  if  we  pray  unto  Him  ? ' 

Chap.  xxi.  10-15. 

have  the  pleasures  of  sin  and  the  good  of  life  too ;  so  that  on 
the  mere  scale  of  justice,  if  that  is  all  that  governs  the  uni- 
verse, in  a  very  true  sense  "  the  earth  is  given  over  into  the 
hands  of  the  wicked  "  (section  vi.  45). 

24,  25.  That  is,  not  a  moment  is  left,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
for  the  fearful  doom  that  has  been  ascribed  to  them.  This 
is  a  square  contradiction  of  what  all  the  friends  have  main- 
tained ;  see  especially  sections  ix.  38-47 ;  59-61 ;  xi.  27,  28, 
35,  36;  and  most  recklessly  stated  of  all,  xiii.  44-58. 

28.  Observe  how  the  wicked  speak  of  God  as  what,  a  neu- 
ter, a  thing,  to  be  taken  advantage  of ;  all  their  thought  is 
pitched  in  the  key  of  selfishness  and  gain.  This  is  Job's  por- 
trayal of  the  exact  opposite  of  his  own  feeling;  to  him  such 
a  spirit  is  the  centre  of  all  wickedness. 


XIV.  JOB  247 


II. 

"  Behold,  not  in  their  hand  is  their  weal.  30 

The  counsel  of  the  wicked  —  be  it  far  from  me ! 

III. 
"  How  often  doth  the  lamp  of  the  wicked  go 

out, 
And  their  destruction  come  upon  them, 
Or  He  distribute  woes  in  His  anger? 
How  often  are  they  as  straw  before  the  wind,  35 
And    as    chaff    which    the    storm    snatcheth 

away  t 
*  God  layeth  up  his  iniquity  for  his  children '  ?  — 

Chap.  xxi.  16-19. 

30.  Yet  Job  does  not  say  this,  as  the  friends  assert  after- 
ward (see  sections  xv.  28,  29;  xxiii.  12-17,  76-80),  because  he 
is  in  sympathy  with  wicked  ways ;  it  is  mere  loyalty  to  fact 
that  compels  the  admission.  Nor  does  he  maintain  that  they 
are  the  authors  of  their  own  weal ;  it  is  still,  in  some  myste- 
rious way  which  none  have  found  out,  in  the  hands  of  God. 

32.  H(nv  often  ?  A  challenge  as  to  the  truth  of  Bildad's 
assertion,  section  xi.  9-12.  The  friends  ought  to  specify  how 
universal  a  fact  their  theory  contemplates  ;  it  is  in  truth  not 
universal  enough,  not  distinctive  enough,  to  be  a  fact  at  all. 

35.  Job  quotes  the  substance  of  his  friends'  assertions  here, 
though  not  in  the  same  imagery;  compare  sections  xi.  21,  22 ; 
35,  36;  xiii.  14,  15. 

37.  This  question  is  a  fair  representation,  in  more  con- 
densed form,  of  what  the  friends  have  maintained ;  see  sec- 
tions iii.  50-52 ;  xiiL  18-21. 


248  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XIV. 

On  Jiim  let  Him  requite,  and  he  shall  feel  it ; 
Let  his  own  eyes  see  his  ruin, 
And  let  himself  drink  from  the  wrath  of  the 
Almighty.  4o 

For  what  careth  he  for  his  house  after  him, 
When  the  number  of  his  months  is  cut  off  } 

Shall  any  teach  knowledge  unto  God,  — 
Him  —  who  judgeth  them  that  are  high  } 
One  dieth  in  the  fullness  of  his  strength,         45 
All  at  ease  and  quiet,  — 
His  vessels  full  of  milk, 

And  the  marrow  of  his  bones  well  moistened ; 
And  another  dieth  with  a  bitter  soul, 
And  hath  never  tasted  of  good.  50 

Chap.  xxi.  19-25. 

38  sq.  Out  of  Job's  strong  sense  of  justice  rises  this  de- 
mand for  the  individual  punishment  of  the  wicked.  It  is  the 
earliest  remonstrance  against  the  old  Hebrew  idea  that  pos- 
terity suffers  for  ancestral  sins ;  a  remonstrance  that  becomes 
incorporated  in  revealed  prophetic  word,  in  Ezekiel  xviii. 
See  also  Jeremiah  xxxi.  29,  30.  The  human,  out  of  its  own 
needs  and  insight,  makes  the  discovery,  and  in  due  time  the 
divine  comes  to  define  and  sanction  it. 

41.  What  careth  he  ?  It  is  from  the  depth  of  Job's  unsel- 
fish love  that  the  foregoing  demand  comes ;  for  he  sees  that 
in  the  cold  selfishness  of  the  wicked  punishment  reserved  for 
posterity  does  not  touch  his  soul  at  all,  —  it  does  not  punish 
sin  of  that  kind. 

45~52-  These  lines  describe  the  accurate  fact,  so  far  as  we 
can  see ;  namely,  that  righteous  and  wicked  fare  alike ;  moral 
desert,  at  least  on  this  earth,  having  apparently  nothing  to  do 
with  their  doom. 


XIV.  JOB  249 

Together  they  lie  down,  in  the  dust, 

And  the  worm  spreadeth  a  covering  over  them. 


IV. 


"  Behold,  I  know  your  thoughts, 

And  the  devices  whereby  ye  wrong  me. 

For  ye  say,  *  Where  is  the  tyrant's  house,        55 

And    where    the    tent,    wherein    the   wicked 

dwelt  ? ' 
Have  ye  not  inquired  of  the  wayfarers  } 
And  do  ye  not  know  their  tokens,  — • 
That  in  the  day  of  destruction  the  wicked  is 

spared. 
That  in  the  day  of  wrath  they  are  led  away  ?  eo 
Who  then  will  declare  his  way  to  his  face  t 
And  hath  he  done  aught,  who  will  requite  it 

unto  him  } 
For  he  — he  is  carried  to  his  grave, 

Chap.  xxi.  26-32. 

53,  54.  Job  divines  the  answer  that  is  in  their  mind,  a  kind 
of  manufactured  answer  urged  out  of  spite,  and  meets  it. 

55.  They  are  supposably  asking  him  to  adduce  cases  that 
prove  their  wholesale  assertions  untrue. 

57.  And  Job  replies  that  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked, 
which  he  proceeds  again  to  enlarge  upon,  is  so  notorious  that 
all  who  travel  abroad,  who  look  about  them  at  all,  cannot 
fail  to  observe  it. 

59  sqq.  We  are  still  to  bear  in  mind  here  what  has  been 
said  in  the  note  to  1.  14  sqq.  It  is  a  portrayal  of  what  is  as 
likely  to  befall  the  wicked  as  the  righteous. 


2  50  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XIV. 

And  watch  is  kept  over  his  tomb  ; 

Sweetly  He  upon  him  the  clods  of  the  valley  ;  es 

And  after  him  draw  all  men, 

As  there  were  numberless  before  him. 

V. 

"  How  then  comfort  ye  me  with  vanity. 
Since  your  answers  remain  falsehood  .-*  " 

Chap.  xxr.  32-34. 

66.  Men  follow  and  imitate  the  wicked,  just  as  they  do  the 
good ;  it  is  the  rule  of  the  world  to  imitate  success^  apart  from 
moral  considerations.     Compare  Ecclesiastes  iv.  15,  16. 

69.  Falsehood^  —  that  is,  untrue  to  obvious  fact. 


XV 

ELIPHAZ 

And  Eliphaz  the  Temanite  answered,  and 
said  : 

I. 

"  Can  a  man  be  profitable  unto  God, 

As  the  prudent  getteth  profit  unto  himself  ? 

Is  it  a  pleasure  to  the  Almighty  that  thou  art 
righteous, 

Or  is  it  a  gain,  that  thou  makest  thy  ways  per- 
fect ?  ' 

Is  it  for  thy  piety  that  He  reproveth  thee,  — 

Chap.  xxii.  1-4- 

Lines  2,  3.  The  expression  here  is  a  little  obscure  on  ac- 
count of  the  turning  around  of  the  comparison.  It  means, 
"  Is  man's  righteousness  a  thing  out  of  which  God  gets  profit, 
as  a  prudent  man  turns  things  to  his  advantage." 

4,  5.  This  question  merely  embodies  the  logical  sequence 
of  Eliphaz's  favorite  doctrine,  expressed  in  sections  iii.  33-37  ; 
ix  26-31  The  doctrine  removes  God  to  such  an  inaccessi- 
ble distance  that  He  is  really  unaffected  by  either  righteous- 
ness or  wickedness  :  He  rewards  and  punishes  in  an  abstract, 
mechanical  way,  merely  because  He  has  made  it  the  law  of  a 
universe  which  He  is  sitting  outside  of  and  seemg  go. 

6   Eliphaz's   syllogism  is  very  simple.     God  is  evidently 


252  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XV. 

That  He  cometh  with  thee  into  judgment  ? 

May  not  thy  wickedness  be  great, 

And  no  end  to  thine  iniquities  ? 

For  thou  hast  taken  a  pledge  from  thy  brother 

causelessly,  10 

And  stripped  off  the  clothes  of  the  naked ; 
Thou  hast  given  no  water  to  the  faint, 
And  from  the  hungry  hast  withholden  bread ; 
While  the  man  of  the  strong  arm  —  his  was 

the  land, 
And  the  respected  of  persons  dwelt  therein  !  is 
Widows  hast  thou  sent  away  empty ; 


Chap.  xxii.  4-9. 

punishing  Job.  It  cannot  be  for  righteousness.  Hence  it 
must  be  for  wickedness. 

7.  Thus  Eliphaz  comes  at  last  to  his  final  shot,  —  the  direct 
charge  of  wickedness  against  Job.  It  is,  as  we  see,  merely  a 
conclusion  of  dialectics,  which  his  doctrine  of  man's  necessary 
and  inevitable  corruption  bears  him  out  in  drawing.  Has  not 
the  doctrine  of  total  depravity  in  our  own  day  brought  forth 
just  as  grave,  if  not  so  particular,  accusations  of  sin  ? 

ID  sqq.  These  specific  charges  are  of  course  wholly  theo- 
retic, nor  are  they  inaptly  made.  They  name  such  things  as 
might  be  done  by  a  busy  rich  man  like  Job,  through  forget- 
fulness  or  indifference,  or  such  things  as  may  have  been  done 
in  his  name  by  servants.  Any  of  them  might  take  place  at 
the  gate  of  a  prince  without  his  knowledge.  The  expression 
"  man  of  the  strong  arm,"  1.  14,  by  which  Eliphaz  character- 
izes such  as  Job,  shows  how  he  accounts  for  such  sin  :  the 
man  whose  strength  and  wealth,  and  whose  absorption  with 
his  favored  friends  (1.  1 5),  make  him  indifferent  to  needs  and 
distress  because  removed  from  them. 


XV.  ELIPHAZ  253 

And   the   arms  of   the   fatherless    have   been 

broken. 
Therefore  it  is  that  snares  are  about  thee, 
And  fear  terrifieth  thee  suddenly. 
Or  seest  thou  not  the  darkness,  20 

And  the  deluge  of  waters  that  covereth  thee  ? 

Is  not  God  the  summit  of  heaven  } 
And  see  the  crown  of  the  stars  —  how  high  ! 
And  so  thou  sayest,  *  What  doth  God  know  .? 
Can  He  judge  through  the  thick  cloud  }  25 

Clouds  are  a  covering  to  Him,  and  He  seeth 

not  ; 
And  He  walketh  by  Himself  on  the  vault  of 

heaven.' 

II. 

*'  Wilt  thou  cherish  the  way  of  old, 
Wherein  trod  the  men  of  wickedness  } 

Chap.  xxii.  9-15. 

18,  19.  Such  is  the  ground  on  which  Eliphaz  interprets 
Job's  dismay  and  amazement  confessed  in  the  previous  sec- 
tion (8-1 1)! 

20,  21.  As  much  as  to  say,  Your  suffering  is  a  fact,  —  why 
do  you  thus  ignore  it,  and  what  else  can  you  make  of  it  .-* 

22-27.  Another  way,  this,  of  accounting  for  Job's  theorized 
lapse  into  sin,  —  he  may  have  supposed  that  God  would  not 
see  him,  being  so  far  away.  To  whom  so  naturally  as  to 
Eliphaz  would  such  a  reason  occur  ?  At  the  same  time  it  is 
not  improbable  that  he  has  in  mind  Job's  complaints  of  God's 
remoteness  ;  see  sections  vi.  20,  21 ;  viii.  99;  xii.  12-15. 

28  sqq.    To    Eliphaz    Job's    candid    acknowledgment    of 


254  ^-^^  BOOK  OF  yOB  XV. 

Who  were  snatched  away,  and  the  time  was 

not  yet ;  so 

Whose  foundation  flowed  away,  a  river. 
Who  said  unto  God,  '  Depart  from  us  ; ' 
And,  *  What  will  the  Almighty  do  unto  us  ? ' 
And  yet  —  '  He  filleth  their  houses  with  good,' 

thou  sayest ; 
While  also  thou  sayest,  '  The  counsel  of  the 

wicked  be  far  from  me  !  '  35 

The  righteous  see,  and  are  glad ; 
And  the  innocent  make  a  by-word  of  them  : 
*  Verily,'    they  say,   *our  adversaries  are  cut 

down, 
And  their  remains  doth  the  fire  devour.* 

Chap.  xxii.  16-20. 

wicked   prosperity   seems   dangerously   near     "  cherishing " 
wicked  ways. 

32,  33.  Eliphaz  quotes  nearly  the  same  questions  attributed 
by  Job  to  the  wicked  who  were  prospered  (section  xiv. 
26-28),  to  characterize  the  wicked  of  old  who  were  snatched 
away.  Thus  by  going  back  to  antiquity  he  makes  his  only 
attempt  to  disprove  Job's  appeal  to  fact. 

34.  A  condensation  of  what  Job  has  said,  section  xiv. 
14-24. 

35.  See  section  xiv.  31. 

36-39-  Job  has  viewed  the  confused  order  of  things  with 
amazement  and  dismay,  nor  does  he  exult  over  the  wicked ; 
and  thereby,  thinks  Eliphaz,  he  proves  himself  a  sympathizer 
with  evil.  A  righteous  man  will  curse  where  God  has  pun- 
ished; compare  section  iii.  49.  That  is  the  way  to  "justify 
God;"  perhaps,  also,  it  is  his  covert  way  of  defending  his 
treatment  of  Job. 


XV.  ELIPHAZ 


255 


III. 

"  Reconcile  thyself  with  Him  now,  and  be  at 
peace ;  40 

Thereby  good  shall  come  unto  thee. 
Receive  now  instruction  from  His  mouth, 
And  lay  up  His  words  in  thy  heart. 
If  thou  wilt  return  to  the  Almighty,  thou  shalt 

be  built  up,  — 
So  thou  removest  iniquity  far  from  thy  tents ; — 
And  put  thou  thy  precious  ore  in  the  dust,      46 
And  Ophir  in  the  stones  of  the  brooks  ; 
So  shall  the  Almighty  be  thy  precious  ore. 
And  silver  of  the  mine  shalt  thou  have. 

Chap.  xxii.  21-25. 

40.  Reconcile  thyself.  This  word,  presupposing  guilt  and 
sin  on  Job's  part,  is  what  invalidates  the  whole  force  of  this 
beautiful  passage,  which  is  the  final  appeal  of  the  friends  to 
J&b.  Abstractly  there  is  nothing  whatever  to  be  urged 
against  the  lines ;  but  in  implication,  and  as  here  applied, 
they  gather  into  themselves  all  the  charges  that  Eliphaz  has 
made. 

45.  It  has  been  pointed  out  before  (see  sections  v.  lo,  note ; 
vii.  27,  28)  how  in  their  exhortations  the  friends  put  in  a  sly 
clause  presupposing  Job's  iniquity. 

46.  That  is,  despise  earthly  riches,  renounce  the  affection 
for  wordly  goods  which  has  made  thee  presumably  indifferent 
to  the  poor. 

47.  Ophir,  —  that  is,  gold  of  Ophir.  The  gold  was  so 
much  spoken  of  that  the  country  where  it  was  found  came  to 
designate  it ;  as  we  say  damask  and  morocco  for  products  of 
Damascus  and  Morocco. 


256  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XV. 

For  then  shall  thy  delight  be  in  the  Al- 
mighty ;  ^ 

And  thou  shalt  lift  up  thy  face  unto  God. 

Thou  shalt  pray  to  Him,  and  He  will  hear  thee  ; 

And  thy  vows  shalt  thou  fully  perform. 

Thou  shalt  purpose  a  thing,  and  it  shall  be 
established  to  thee ; 

And  upon  thy  ways  shall  light  shine.  55 

Though  they  lead  downward,  yet  thou  sayest, 
*  Aloft ! ' 

And  the  lowly  of  eyes  shall  He  save. 

He  shall  deliver  him  that  is  not  guiltless  ; 

Who  will  be  delivered  through  the  cleanness  of 
thy  hands." 

Chap.  xxii.  26-30. 

51.  Eliphaz  has  regarded  Job  as  bitter  and  rebellious 
against  God  ;  see  section  ix.  22-24.  From  such  hard  enmity 
he  promises  Job  return. 

52.  Alluding  perhaps  to  Job's  complaint,  section  xii.  12,  13. 
55.  See  section  xii.  15. 

57.  Eliphaz  has  already  asked  Job,  "  Why  quiver  thine 
eyes?"  (section  ix.  23),  as  if  Job  were  angry  and  defiant  j 
and  this  is  the  contrast  that  he  would  inculcate. 

58,  59.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  his  closing  words  Eli- 
phaz prophesies  what  actually  did  take  place,  section  xxx. ; 
only  the  friends  were  the  ones  who  were  "  not  guiltless,"  and 
Job's  whole  course  was  on  the  highest  authority  justified. 


XVI 

JOB 

And  Job  answered,  and  said  : 

"  Defiant,  even  to-day,  is  my  complaint. 
Though  my  hand  Heth  heavy  on  my  groaning. 


"  Oh  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  Him  !  — 
Might  come  even  unto  His  dweUing-place  !  s 
I  would  set  in  order  my  cause  before  Him  ; 
And  I  would  fill  my  mouth  with  arguments. 
I  would  know  the  words  He  would  answer  me  ; 
And  I  would  mark  what  He  would  say  unto 
me. 

Chap,  xxiii.  1-5. 

Line  2.  Defiant,  —  that  is,  defying  his  efforts  at  repression, 
and  ready  to  break  forth  in  spite  of  him. 

4  sqq.  Job's  "complaint"  does  not  begin  till  1.  14;  he  de- 
lays it  long  enough  to  give  a  brief  but  fervent  response  to 
Eliphaz's  exhortation.  Eliphaz  has  bidden  him  return  to  God 
(section  xv.  40-44),  and  given  him  sweet  promises  if  he 
will  so  do ;  Job  takes  him  at  his  word,  so  far  forth  at  least, 
that  he  longs  supremely  after  God's  presence ;  though  he 
turns  to  God  not  as  a  sinner,  but  as  a  man  with  a  just  and 
righteous  cause. 


258  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XVI. 

Would  He  plead  against  me  in  the  greatness 
of  His  might  ?  10 

Nay  ;  but  surely  He  would  give  heed  unto  me. 

There  it  would  be  an  upright  man  pleading 
with  Him  ; 

And  I  should  be  delivered  for  ever  from  my 
Judge. 

•  II. 

"  Behold,  I  go  eastward,  but  He  is  not  there ; 
And  toward    the    west,  yet    I  perceive    Him 

not ;  15 

Northward,  where  He  worketh,  but  I  discover 

Him  not ; 
And  in  the  south  He  hideth  Himself,  and  I 

see  Him  not. 
Yet  He  knoweth  the  way  that  is  mine ; 

Chap,  xxiii.  6-10. 

10.  This  question,  with  its  negative  answer,  indicates  how 
far  Job  has  advanced  in  his  conviction  of  God's  favor  since 
he  conquered  his  way  to  the  assurance  that  his  Redeemer 
liveth.  He  is  sure  now  that  if  he  could  find  God  he  would 
find  Him  a  friend. 

12,  13.  This  utterance  of  calm  confidence  is  just  the  oppo- 
site of  that  complaint  of  Job's  earlier  days,  section  vi.  26-29. 
Something  has  assuredly  wrought  to  *'  remove  God's  hand 
from  upon  him  "  (sections  vi.  66 ;  viii.  93) ;  it  is  that  faith 
which  has  enabled  him  to  identify  God  with  his  Advocate  and 
Redeemer. 

18.  Yet,  —  literally, yi^r.  It  is  an  elliptical  expression  ;  as  if 
he  had  said,  "  Yet  I  will  not  despair  for  He  knoweth,"  etc. 


25 


XVI.  yoB  259 

He  is  trying  me :  I  shall  come  forth  as  gold. 
My  foot  hath  held  fast  unto  His  steps  ;  ^         20 
His  way  have  I  kept,  and  turned  not  aside,  — 
The  precept  of  His  lips,  and  have  not  shunned 

More  than  aught  mine  own  have  I  treasured 

the  words  of  His  mouth. 
But  He  —  He  abideth  the  same  ;  who  shall 

turn  Him  t 
Yea,  His  soul  desireth,  and  He  doeth  it. 
For  He  will  accomplish  the  thing  appointed 

for  me. 
And  like  these,  many  things   that   are  with 

Him. 

Chap,  xxiii.  10-14- 
This,  too,  is  a  discovery  of  Job's  faith  to  be  carefully  noted 
It  anticipates  what  Elihu  urges  afterward,  sections  xxii.  and 
XXV.  Job,  on  his  stoutly  maintained  ground  of  integrity,  has 
discovered  the  solution  of  his  afifliction.-Zy..  way  that  zs 
mine,  literallv,  that  is  with  me;  the  same  particle  whose 
intimacy  of  relation  has  been  mentioned,  section  vi.  69,  note  ; 
mv  truest,  sincerest,  most  habitual  way. 

23  More  than  aught  mine  <mn,  -  literally,  more  than  mine 
own  law  or  behest.  An  obscure  expression,  but  seeming  to 
mean,  «  more  than  anything  to  which  I  give  authority  or  con- 
trol," that  is,  whatever  is  most  mine. 

24  In  the  light  of  Job's  new  solution  note  how  differently 
God's  dealings  look  to  him.  He  sees  the  same  changeless, 
inexorable,  inscrutable  work  that  he  contemplated  in  sections 
vi  6-27;  viii.  27-52;  and  the  sight  fills  him  with  tremblmg 
awe  (compare  section  xiv.  7-");  but  he  does  not,  as  then, 
trace  in  it  God's  injustice  and  persecution ;  he  is  content  to 


260  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XVI. 

Therefore  it  is  that  I  tremble  before  Him,  — 
That  I  consider,  and  am  afraid  of  Him  ; 
And  it  is  God  that  maketh  my  heart  soft ;       3o 
The  Almighty  it  is  that  confoundeth  me. 
For  I  am  not  dismayed  by  the  face  of  dark- 
ness, 
Nor   by   mine  own    face,  which   thick  gloom 
veileth. 


III. 

"  Why  are  not  judgment-times  determined  by 

the  Almighty  t 
And  they  that  know  Him  — why  see  they  not 

His  days  t  35 

Chap.  xxni.  15  —  xxiv.  i. 

let  it  be  so,  though  wondering  at  its  darkness.  This  is  his 
only  remaining  problem,  and  it  is  to  this  that  the  Lord  ad- 
dresses His  words  from  the  whirlwind,  sections  xxvi.  and 
xxviii. 

32.  Job  has  long  ago  taken  leave  of  personal  fear  (see  sec- 
tions vi.  40 ;  viii.  77-80) ;  he  has  approached  death  with  calm 
readiness  (see  section  x.  71  sqq.  note)  ;  and  now  he  has  got 
beyond  the  dismay  due  to  disease  and  blasted  hope  (contrast 
sections  vi.  32-35;  54;  105-107;  x.  14-34;  xii.  16-19).  Surely 
a  great  advance  ;  he  has  almost  reached  his  goal. 

34,  35.  Here  Job  propounds  his  one  remaining  problem. 
It  is  the  problem  that  dismayed  him  in  the  previous  section 
(xiv.  10-13),  and  that  is  "defiant"  in  this  (11.  2,3),  namely, 
why  God  does  not,  in  His  deahngs  with  men,  so  determine  the 
bounds  of  right  and  wrong,  that  those  who  know  Him  can 
trace    the    principles  of    His  working.     Why  are   things    so 


XVI.  JOB  261 

There  are  who  remove  landmarks  ; 
Who  seize  upon  flocks  and  pasture  them  ; 
The  ass  of  the  fatherless  they  drive  away  ; 
They  take  for  pledge  the  ox  of  the  widow. 
They  thrust  the  needy  out  of  the  way  ;  40 

The  poor  of  the  land  must  hide  themselves  to- 
gether. 
Behold  these  then  !  wild  asses  in  the  desert  ; 

Chap.  xxiv.  2-5. 
turned  around  —  the  righteous  afflicted,  the  wicked  secure  in 
impunity  ?    The  former  of   these  he  has  just  answered  for 
himself^.  i8,  19)  ;  now  he  addresses  himself  to  the  latter. 

36  sqq.  The  ensuing  lines  portray  forms  of  wickedness  that 
were  doubtless  most  prevalent  at  the  time  when  the  Book  of 
Job  was  written.  They  seem  to  indicate  a  time  when  classes 
were  sharply  distinguished  ;  the  rich  becoming  richer  and  more 
heartless,  the  poor  thrust  into  a  more  grinding  and  hopeless 
poverty.  Such  times  consist  best  with  long  settled  national 
prosperity,  free  from  political  and  social  upheavals,  such  as 
we  can  most  reasonably  associate  with  the  later  years  of  the 
Jewish  monarchy. 

36.  There  are  who  remove  landmarks.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
in  the  first  appendix  to  the  original  Solomonic  Proverbs, 
made  near  the  time  when  the  Book  of  Job  was  supposably 
written,  the  injunction  is  twice  given  "not  to  remove  the  an- 
cient landmark  "  (Prov.  xxii.  28  ;  xxiii.  10)  ;  and  that  in  Deu- 
teronomy,, whose  composition  (or  at  least  publication)  dates 
from  a  time  not  long  after,  the  same  injunction  is  both  given 
as  a  commandment  (Deut.  xix.  14)  and  sanctioned  by  a  curse 
(Deut.  xxvii.  17).  This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  re- 
moval of  landmarks,  that  is,  wicked  and  unscrupulous  en- 
largement of  property-holdings,  was  one  of  the  crying  evils  of 
this  time.     See  Introductory  Study,  pp.  104,  108  sq. 

42.  Namely,  the  poor  of  the  land,  who  are  forced  to  be- 


262  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XVI. 

They  go  forth  in  their  work,  seeking  eagerly 

for  prey  ; 
The   waste  must  be  to  them   bread  for  their 

children. 
In  the  field  they  reap,  each  one,  his  fodder ;    45 
And  they  glean  the  vineyard  of  the  wicked. 
Naked  all  night  they  lie,  from  lack  of  clothing  ; 
And  they  have  no  covering  in  the  cold. 
They  are  wet  with  the  storm  of  the  mountain  ; 
And  for  lack  of  shelter  they  cling  to  the  rock. 
There  are  who  tear  away  the  fatherless  from 

the  breast,  51 

And  take  what  the  poor  have  on  for  pledge. 
So  these  go  about  naked  for  lack  of  clothing. 
And  hungry  they  carry  the  sheaf ; 
Between  their  walls  these  press  out  the  oil ;    55 
They  tread  the  wine-vats  and  suffer  thirst. 
Groans  arise  from  the  city  of  the  dying, 
And  the  soul  of  the  wounded  crieth  out  ; 
And  God  regardeth  not  the  enormity. 

There  are  of  them  that  rebel  against  light,  eo 

Chap.  xxiv.  5-13. 

come  wanderers  and  outlaws,  gathering  a  precarious  subsist- 
ence from  land  that  is  not  theirs. 

55.  Between  their  walls,  —  namely,  the  walls  of  the  rich 
wicked,  by  whom  they  are  so  ground  down  with  labor  and  en- 
slaved, that  they  have  to  go  hungry  in  the  midst  of  abundance. 

59.  Enormity,  —  in  choosing  this  word  I  follow  the  transla- 
tion of  Dr.  Tayler  Lewis.  The  original  is  the  same  word 
translated  "  aught  unbeseeming,"  in  section  i.  88,  where  see 


XVI.  JOB  263 

That  regard  not  the  ways  thereof. 

Nor  abide  in  its  trodden  paths. 

With  the  light  riseth  up  the  murderer ; 

He  slayeth  the  poor  and  the  needy  ; 

And  in  the  night  he  is  as  a  thief.  ^^ 

The  eye  of  the  adulterer,  too,  watcheth  for  the 
gloom, 

Saying,  No  eye  shall  spy  me  out ! 

And  he  putteth  a  covering  upon  his  face. 

Men  dig  through  houses  in  the  darkness  ; 

In  the  daytime  they  shut  themselves  up  ;         7o 

They  know  not  the  light. 

For  morning  to  them  is  just  like  midnight ; 

Yea,  they  know  well  the  terrors  of  the  mid- 
night ! 

IV. 

*' '  Fleeting  he  is,'  ye  say,  '  on  the  face  of  the 

waters  ; 

Chap.  xxiv.  13-18. 
note.  The  same  root  occurs  in  its  literal  meaning,  section 
iv.  IT,  where  it  is  translated  "tasteless."  From  "  tasteless- 
ness  "  the  word  may  get  the  meaning  absurdity,  anomaly,  or, 
to  use  an  analogous  derivation,  enormity  {e-norma),  some- 
thing monstrous,  outside  of  orderly  law  and  custom. 

61.  The  ways  and  trodden  paths  of  light  are  simply  the  cus- 
toms of  right  living,  to  which  murder  and  adultery  and  rob- 
bery are  opposed. 

73.  Midnight,  which  may  contain  terrors  for  others,  is  just 
the  working-time  and  congenial  season  of  these  ;  compare 
John  iii.  20,  21. 

74-84.  In  these  lines  Job  draws,  I  think,  on  the  body  of 


264  '^^^   BOOK  OF  JOB  XVI. 

Cursed  the  portion  of  such  in  the  land ;  75 

He  turneth  not  the  way  of  the  vineyards. 

Drought  and  heat  bear  away  the  snow-water,  — 

The  grave  also  them  that  have  sinned. 

There  the  womb  will  forget  him, 

While  the  worm  batteneth  upon  him.  so 

No  more  will  he  be  remembered ; 

And  like  the  tree  iniquity  shall  be  broken,  — 

Even  he  who  devoureth  the  barren  that  bear- 

eth  not, 
And  doeth  no  kindness  to  the  widow.' 

Nay ;  but  He  continueth  the  mighty  by  His 

power ;  85 

They  rise  up  when  they  beUeved  not  that  they 

would  live. 
He  giveth  them  to  be  secure,  and  they  are  at 

rest ; 
And  His  eyes  are  on  their  ways. 

Chap.  xxiv.  18-23. 

Wisdom  utterances  from  which  the  friends  have  freely  quoted 
(see  sections  v.  21-38 ;  ix.  38-71 ),  and  which  we  may  presume 
to  have  been  equally  familiar  to  him  (compare  sections  viii.  6; 
53-56;  X.  2).  From  the  same  body  of  Wisdom  he  may  have 
drawn,  section  viii.  27-52  ;  and  section  xviii.  8-25  reads  like  a 
passage  from  the  same  collection  of  truth.  The  present  pas- 
sage, while  it  does  not  quote  words  that  the  friends  have  ac- 
tually used,  maintains  the  same  general  tenor  of  thought,  and 
might  well  be  put  alongside  of  the  words  of  Bildad,  section  v., 
or  Kliphaz,  section  ix.  It  is  as  if  Job  had  said,  I  call  in  ques- 
tion the  whole  Wisdom  teaching  on  this  point. 
85-91.  Having  made  his  quotation,  Job  shows  hov/  one- 


XVI.  JOB  265 

They  rise  to  eminence ;  —  a  little  while,  and 

they  are  not  ! 
They  are  brought  low  ;  like  all  others  they  are 

gathered  in,  90 

And  are  cut  off,  like  the  heads  of  corn. 

V. 

"  If  it  be  not  so,  who  then  will  prove  me  false, 
And  make  my  words  come  to  nought } " 

Chap.  xxiv.  24,  25. 

sided  it  is  by  stating  the  actual  fact.     This  passage  is  virtu- 
ally a  repetition  of  what  he  has  said,  section  xiv. 

92.  Job's  conclusive  and  triumphant  victory  over  his  friends 
is  indicated  by  the  challenge  with  which  he  here  seals  his 
words.  No  one  takes  it  up;  for  though  Bildad  yet  speaks, 
his  words  are  so  aside  from  the  issue  as  to  be  a  virtual  con- 
fession of  defeat. 


XVII 

BILDAD 

And  Bildad  the  Shuhite  answered,  and  said : 

"  Dominion  and  dread  are  with  Him  ; 

Who  maketh  peace  in  His  high  places. 

Is  there  any  number  to  His  armies  ? 

And  on  whom  riseth  not  His  light  ?  s 

How  then  shall  mortal  man  be  just  with  God  ? 

And  how  shall  the  woman-born  be  clean  ? 

Chap.  xxv.  1-4. 

Bildad  responds  wholly  without  the  rancor  and  bitterness 
that  have  characterized  the  friends'  answers  hitherto,  and 
with  general  considerations  quite  apart  from  the  question  at 
issue.  Perhaps  it  is  Job's  persistent  affirmation  of  his  integ- 
rity, section  xvi.  20-23,  that  immediately  calls  them  forth  ; 
but  Bildad  no  longer  makes  it  a  personal  matter,  and  seems 
to  repeat  his  lesson  almost  mechanically,  the  chapter  from 
his  well-conned  Wisdom  which  is  least  to  be  called  in  ques- 
tion. 

Line  3.  An  allusion,  apparently,  to  some  traditional  con- 
flict in  heaven  wherein  God  was  victor ;  compare  section  vi. 
25,  and  note. 

6.  The  same  doctrine  that  Eliphaz  has  twice  propounded, 
once  as  the  oracle  of  a  vision  (section  iii.  33-43),  and  again 
as  the  sacred  word  which  it  were  impiety  to  deny  (section  ix. 
26-31 ).    All  have  taken  it  for  granted,  as  the  most  indubitable 


XVII.  BILDAD  267 

Behold,  even  the  moon  —  it  shineth  not ; 
And  the  stars  are  not  pure  in  His  eyes  ; 
How  much  less  mortal  man  —  a  worm  !  10 

And  the  son  of  man  —  a  caterpillar  !  " 

Chap.  xxv.  5,  6. 

conclusion  of  orthodoxy ;  besides,  it  is  the  doctrine  that  the 
Wise  Men  can  least  afford  to  relinquish,  being  their  conven- 
ient solvent  of  the  world's  mysteries  of  evil  and  retribution. 
And  it  is  this  doctrine  that  Job's  bold  self-defense  most  rad- 
ically traverses.  Not  that  Job  really  denies  it;  see,  on  the 
contrary,  Job's  words  in  section  viii.  116,  117  ;  but  his  point 
(see  section  vi.  33,  note),  that  the  proportion  between  man's 
doings  and  God's  dealings  with  him  is  too  obviously  unre- 
lated to  be  made  a  criterion  of  justice,  is  lost  on  them. 


XVIII 

JOB 

And  Job  answered,  and  said : 

*'  How  hast  thou  given  help  to  the  powerless  ! 

How  succored  the  nerveless  arm  ! 

How  hast  thou  counseled  the  unwise, 

And  made  known  truth  in  abundance!  ' 

To  whom  directest  thou  words  ? 

And  whose  breath  goeth  forth  from  thee  ? 


"  The  giant  shades  tremble 

Beneath  the  waters  and  their  inhabitants. 

Chap.  xxvi.  1-5. 

Job  begins  his  answer  by  ridiculing  Bildad's  speech,  inti- 
mating ironically  that  there  is  no  savor,  no  depth  or  life,  to 
his  words. 

Line  6.  Job's  way  of  intimating  that  Bildad's  words  do 
not  fit  the  case  ;  they  have  no  direction. 

7.  Whose  breath,  —  that  is,  as  inspiration.  Evidently  not 
the  breath  of  Him  whose  words  reach  their  aim,  and  impart 
knowledge  and  guidance. 

8.  The  giant  shades,  —  the  word  translated  shades  {rephaim) 
is  from  a  root  meaning  weak,  powerless.  But  the  same  word 
is  used  to  designate  a  race  of  giants,  Genesis  xiv.  5 ;  xv.  20 ; 


XVIII.  JOB  269 

Naked  lieth  Sheol  before  Him,  10 

And  there  is  no  covering  to  Abaddon. 

He  stretcheth  out  the  North  over  the  void  ; 

He  hangeth  the  earth  upon  nothing. 

He  bindeth  the  waters  in  His  thick  clouds, 

Chap.  xxvi.  6-8. 

Isaiah  xvii.  5.  "  Here,  in  fact,"  says  Dr.  Tayler  Lewis,  "the 
true  force  of  the  passage  is  best  given  by  combining  the  two 
ideas  :  the  once  mighty  men  of  old  now  feeble  wailing  ghosts." 
8  sqq.  In  the  rest  of  the  section  Job  takes  up  a  strain  sim- 
ilar to  Bildad's,  perhaps  indeed  a  continuation  of  the  same 
well-known  chapter  of  Wisdom,  which,  beginning  with  the 
description  of  the  heavens  above,  may  have  gone  on  to  portray 
God's  control  over  the  regions  beneath.  Both  discourses 
have  the  same  mythological  cast,  quite  different  from  the  rest 
of  the  book  ;  both  are  parts  of  the  same  general  theme.  Job 
carries  on  Bildad's  unfinished  thought,  as  if  he  had  said  :  O 
yes ;  I  know  the  old  story ;  do  not  stop  there,  go  on  to  the 
end,  it  is  just  as  applicable. 

ID,  II.  Beneath  the  sea  somewhere,  according  to  the  old 
mythology,  lay  the  world  of  the  shades  :  Sheol,  the  general 
place  of  departed  spirits  ;  Abaddon,  the  place  where  destruc- 
tion is  decreed.  It  is  like  the  Greek  conception  of  Hades 
and  Tartarus :  — 

"  Down  to  rayless  Tartarus, 
Deep,  deep,  in  the  great  Gulf  below  the  earth,  — 
As  far  beneath  the  Shades  as  earth  from  heaven." 

But  how  definite  and  localized  these  conceptions  of  the 
shades  and  their  dwelling-place  had  become  at  the  time  when 
the  Book  of  Job  was  written,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

12.  The  A^orth,  —  that  is,  probably  the  northern  heavens. 
The  void  seems  to  be  the  great  empty  space  between  the  earth 
and  the  stars. 

14.  The  phenomenon  of   clouds,   wherein   vast   bodies   of 


270  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XVIII. 

And  the  cloud  is  not  rent  under  them.  is 

He  closeth  fast  the  face  of  His  throne, 
Spreading  out  His  cloud  over  it. 
He  hath  circled  a  bound  on  the  face  of  the 

waters, 
Unto  the  margin  of  light  with  darkness. 
The  pillars  of  heaven  rock,  20 

And  are  aghast  at  His  rebuke. 
By  His  power  He  quelleth  the  sea  ; 
And  by  His  skill  He  smiteth  through  Rahab. 
By  His  breath  the  heavens  become  serene  ; 
His  hand  pierceth  the  flying  serpent.  25 

II. 
"  Behold,  these  are  the  outskirts  of  His  ways  ; 

Chap.  xxvi.  8-14. 

water  hung  suspended  over  the  earth,  seems  to  have  been  an 
object  of  great  wonder  and  interest  to  the  Hebrews  ;  compare 
sections  xxv.  55-64  ;  xxvi.  54-59. 

18.  This  seems  to  be  a  poetic  description  of  the  horizon, 
especially  as  observed  at  sea. 

23.  Rahab,  —  literally,  the  proud  one,  has  already  been 
mentioned  by  Job,  section  vi.  25.  Some  tradition,  well  known 
to  Job's  hearers,  but  lost  to  us,  is  referred  to. 

24.  To  the  Hebrews  the  wind  was  God's  breath. 

25.  The  flying  serpent,  —  "according  to  the  ancient  my- 
thology, it  is  the  Dragon,  or  Serpent,  which  eclipses  the  sun  by 
winding  itself  round  it,  and  seeking  to  devour  it."  —  Cox.  In 
Isaiah  li.  9,  the  dragon  and  Rahab  are  associated,  very  much 
as  they  arc  here;  see  Cheyne's  notes  on  Isaiah  xxvii.  i  and 
li.9. 


XVIII.  JOB  271 

And  what  whisper  of  a  word  have  we  heard  of 
Him! 

But  the  thunder  of  His  power,  who  can  under- 
stand ? " 

Chap.  xxvi.  14. 

28.  What  Job  has  described,  drawing  on  the  mythological 
ideas  of  the  time,  seems  occult,  but  is  in  reality  very  easy 
compared  with  the  great  things  that  so  perplex  him. 


XIX 

JOB 

And  Job  took  up  his  discourse  further,  and 
said  : 


"  As  God  liveth,   who  hath   taken   away   my 

right, 
And  the  Almighty,  who  hath  embittered  my 

soul,  — 
For  yet  whole  is  my  breath  within  me, 

Chap,  xxvii.  1-3. 

Line  i.  His  discourse,  —  the  Hebrew  word  7nashal  means 
discourse  in  sententious  or  gnomic  style,  as  represented  in 
proverbs  and  maxims.  This  was  the  style  adopted  as  the 
vehicle  of  the  Hebrew  Wisdom  (see  Introductory  Study,  p. 
97),  a  style  well  adapted,  with  its  condensed  parallelisms, 
to  the  utterance  of  weighty  and  memorable  truths. 

2.  To  what  Job  has  yet  to  say,  which  may  be  regarded  as 
a  summary  of  his  views  and  life,  he  prefixes  the  most  solemn 
form  of  the  Hebrew  oath,  "  As  God  liveth."  So  sure  is  he  of 
the  integrity  that  the  friends  have  so  attacked,  and  of  his 
true  interpretation  of  God's  workings. 

4,  5.  This  asseveration  he  makes,  moreover,  in  full  assur- 
ance of  his  spiritual  soundness  and  sanity.  Of  this  he  has 
been  certain  all  along  (see  sections  iv.  59-61 ;  viii.  23-26)  ;  and 


XIX.  JOB  273 

And  the  spirit  of  God  in  my  nostril,  —  5 

So  surely  my  lips  speak  not  perverseness, 
Nor  doth  my  tongue  murmur  deceit. 
Far  be  it  from  me  that  I  should  justify  you ; 
Till  my  breath  is  gone  will  I  not  let  depart 

mine  integrity  from  me. 
My  righteousness  I  hold  fast,  and  will  not  let 

it  go ;  i» 

My  heart  shall  not  reproach  one  of  my  days. 


*'  Be  mine  enemy  as  the  wicked  man, 
And  he  that  riseth  against  me  as  the  unright- 
eous. 


by  reason  of  it  he  could  detect  and  rebuke  their  blindness 
(see  sections  x.  56,  57  ;  69,  70 ;  xii.  57-61 )  ;  but  they,  on  their 
part,  have  regarded  his  vision  as  perverted  (see  sections  iii. 
44,  and  note;  ix.  14-19;  xv.  20,  21).  A  diseased  body  he 
may  have,  but  it  is  no  diseased  utterance  that  he  is  to  make. 

8.  Justify  you, —  that  is,  in  their  identification  of  him  vi'iih 
the  wicked,  and  by  consequence,  in  the  general  view  of  God's 
world,  which  this  fundamental  error  of  theirs  darkens  and 
perverts. 

12.  So  far  from  being  a  wicked  man,  he  holds,  as  do  they, 
the  wicked  in  abhorrence.  This  he  has  already  said  (section 
xiv.  31)  ;  but  they  could  not  understand  how  he  could  at- 
tribute such  prosperity  to  the  wicked  and  yet  not  be  in  sym- 
pathy with  them  (section  xv.  28-35).  The  mention  of  the 
wicked  here  gives  occasion  to  introduce  the  subject  again, 
and  to  settle  it  according  to  the  insight  of  truth.  Against 
their  intemperate  and  one-sided  portrayals  he  has  already 


2/4  '^^^   BOOK  OF  JOB  XIX. 

For  what  is  the  hope  of  the  godless,  when  He 

cutteth  off,  — 
When  God  draweth  forth  his  soul  ?  is 

Will  God  hear  his  cry, 
When  distress  cometh  upon  him  ? 
Doth  he  delight  himself  in  the  Almighty  ? 
Doth  he  call  upon  God  at  every  time  ? 

I  will  teach,  you  of  the  hand  of  God  ;  20 

What  is  with  the  Almighty  will  I  not  conceal. 
Behold,  ye,  all  ye,  have  seen  it  ;  — 
Wherefore   then   this   vanity,  that    ye   vapor 

forth  ? 

Chap,  xxvii.  8-12. 

answered  negatively,  what  the  fate  of  the  wicked  is  not  ; 
now,  free  from  the  heat  of  controversy,  he  will  give  his  view 
of  what  their  fate  is. 

14,  JV/iai  is  the  hope?  —  This  is  the  keynote  of  Job's  por- 
trayal of  the  wicked  :  they  have  no  hope,  no  abiding  future  ; 
the  permanency  of  things  is  not  theirs.  Job  can  see  this 
clearly  now,  having  conquered  his  way  by  faith  to  a  hope  be- 
yond this  life. 

18.  These  words  furnish  an  expressive  indication  of  the 
pure  standard  of  Job's  righteousness  :  it  is  not  merely  service 
for  reward,  but  delight  in  God,  unselfish  devotion  to  God  for 
His  own  sake.  The  friends'  conception  has  been  distinctly 
lower  than  this  ;  and  it  is  this  that  Job  has  maintained 
against  Satan's  sneer  of  the  beginning.  And  now  Job's  con- 
ception of  wickedness  is  just  its  opposite.  To  him  nothing 
can  be  more  deplorable  than  not  to  delight  in  God. 

20-23.  Jo^  gives  now  his  view  of  the  real  facts  of  life,  a 
view  which  also  they  have  pursued  blindly ;  but  with  their 
view  has  been  mingled  much  "  vanity  ;  "  they  have  not  seen 
the   case   in   its   real  ground  and  perspective.     How  could 


XIX.  yoB  275 

This  is  the  portion  of  a  wicked  man  with 

God, 
And  the  heritage  of  the  violent,  which  they 

shall  receive  from  the  Almighty.  25 

If  his  children  increase,  it  is  for  the  sword  ; 
And  his  offspring  shall  not  be  satisfied  with 

bread. 
The  remnants  of  his  house  shall  be  buried  in 

pestilence. 
And  his  widows  shall  not  make  mourning. 
Though  he  heap  up  silver  as  the  dust,  30 

And  prepare  raiment  as  the  clay,  — 


they,  when  they  even  viewed  Job  as  wicked,  and  when  they 
were  entangled  in  the  erroneous  law  of  Wisdom,  about  pros- 
perity and  calamity  ? 

24  sqq.  Job's  portrayal,  here  beginning,  is  an  exposition  in 
poetic  language  of  what  we  call  the  logic  of  events.  It  is 
the  truth  that  only  righteousness  is  well-built  and  permanent ; 
the  logic  of  wickedness  is  decay  and  destruction.  Violence 
begets  and  succumbs  to  violence  ;  being  itself  a  tearing-down, 
it  has  no  future  to  count  upon.  To  this  idea  is  naturally 
reducible  all  that  Job  here  says,  and  all  that  is  true  in  what 
the  friends  have  said,  sections  v.,  ix.,  xi.,  and  xiii. 

25.  In  considering  these  lines,  bear  in  mind  that  the  spe- 
cial aspect  of  wickedness  that  Job  contemplates  is  violence, 
oppression,  the  aspect  that  was  probably  most  prevalent  in 
Job's  time,  and  that  was  most  directly  opposed  to  his  ideal 
of  life. 

26.  Of  those  who  take  the  sword,  the  sword,  sooner  or 
later,  is  the  doom. 

29.  Violence  and  tyranny  is  a  disintegrator  even  of  natural 
affection. 


276  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XIX. 

He  will  prepare,  and  the  righteous  shall  wear 

it  ; 
And  the  silver  shall  the  innocent  divide. 
He  buildeth  his  house  as  doth  the  moth, 
And  like  a  booth  that  a  watchman  maketh.     35 
He  lieth  down  rich  —  and  never  again  ! 
He  openeth  his  eyes  —  and  he  is  not ! 
Terrors  overtake  him  as  the  waters  ; 
By  night  a  tempest  stealeth  him  away  ; 
An  east  wind  lifteth  him  up,  and  he  vanish- 

eth.  40 

It  stormeth  him  forth  from  his  place  ; 
It  hurleth  against  him,  and  spareth  not  ; 
Hither  and  thither  he  fieeth  from  its  hand. 
Men  clap  their  hands  at  him, 
And  hiss  at  him  from  his  desolated  place.        45 

III. 

"  There  is  indeed  a  vein  for  the  silver, 
And  a  place  for  the  gold  that  they  refine. 

Chap.  XXVII.  17  — XXVIII.  I. 

32,  33.  "But  the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth." 

35.  ^  booth, — such  as  were  built  for  temporary  shelter  in 
vineyards  and  gardens  ;  compare  Isaiah  i.  8. 

37-45.  The  rest  of  the  passage  is  an  amplification,  Ori- 
ental, but  with  this  large  interpretation  not  overwrought,  of 
the  same  general  idea  of  the  instability  and  transitoriness 
of  whatever  is  built  on  evil. 

46.  Indeed,  —  literally,  ''for  there  is."  The  for  I  am 
inclined  to  view  as  equivalent  to  our  idiom  of  a  concessive 


XIX.  JOB  277 

Iron  is  taken  out  of  the  soil, 

And  molten  stone  becometh  copper. 

Man  setteth  an  end  to  darkness,  so 

And  to  the  utmost  limit  he  searcheth  out 

The  stone  of  darkness  and  of  the  shadow  of 

death. 
He  breaketh  the  ravine  remote  from  the  set- 
tler; 
And  there,  forgotten  of  the  passer's  foot, 

Chap,  xxviii.  2-4. 

(indeed)  preparing  for  a  coming  adversative  (but) ;  "  There 
is  indeed  a  vein  for  the  silver,  .  .  .  but  wisdom,  where  shall 
it  be  found  ? " 

The  connection  of  this  28th  chapter  with  the  rest  of  the 
book  has  been  a  puzzle  to  some.  But  does  it  not  follow 
naturally }  Having  portrayed  the  extreme  of  unwisdom  (with 
which  in  the  old  philosophy  w'ickedness  was  identified),  the 
life  that  has  not  the  future  nor  is  built  therefor,  it  is  natural 
that  Job  should  next  speak  of  its  contrast,  the  true  wisdom 
and  foresight  whereby  to  build  human  life  and  character. 
There  are  many  marvelous  things  that  man  may  know  or 
search  out ;  but  many  also  are  unsearchable.  He  cannot  see 
as  God  sees,  perhaps  cannot  reach  absolute  truth.  But  there 
is  a  wisdom /i^r  hivi,  which  points  to  the  absolute  good  as  the 
needle  points  to  the  pole. 

The  description  of  mining  operations,  11.  46-69,  is  given 
with  the  vividness  and  accuracy  of  an  eye-witness,  and  indi- 
cates that  the  writer  was  familiar  with  the  mines  of  Egypt 
and  the  Sinai  peninsula. 

50.  An  end  to  darkness,  —  that  is,  by  illuminating  it  and 
discovering  its  secrets. 

52.  Of  the  shadow  of  death,  —  this  phrase  indicates  the  un- 
canniness  that  the  Hebrew  associated  with  darkness. 


278  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XIX. 

They  hang    and   swing,   far    off   from    mortal 

man. 
The  earth  —  out  of  it  cometh  bread,  se 

And  underneath  it  is  upturned  as  it   were  by 

fire. 
Its  stones  are  the  place  of  the  sapphire, 
And  clods  of  gold  are  there  ;  — 
A  path  that  no  eagle  hath  known,  eo 

Nor  hath  the  vulture's  eye  looked  upon  it. 
The  proud    beast  of  prey  hath  not  explored 

it, 
Nor  hath  passed  over  it  the  roaring  lion. 
He  putteth  forth  his  hand  to  the  flinty  rock ; 
He  overturneth  mountains  from  their  root ;    es 
He  cutteth  channels  in  the  rocks  ; 
And  every  precious  thing  his  eye  seeth. 
He  bindeth  up  the  streams  from  weeping  ; 
And  the   hidden   thing  he   bringeth   forth  to 

light. 
But  Wisdom  —  where  shall  it  be  found  }     70 

Chap,  xxviii.  4-12. 

55.  A  vivid  picture  of  miners  hanging  suspended  from  the 
precipice  and  working  so  far  below  as  to  be  unseen. 

60.  Man  does  indeed  do  wonders  in  exploring  secret  things, 
but  there  is  a  mystery  far  beyond  him,  —  the  mystery  of  wis- 
dom. 

68.  From  weepiug,  —  that  is,  dripping.  A  miner's  meta- 
phor, referring  to  the  dripping  of  water  into  mines  ;  but  well 
worth  translating  literally  for  its  beauty. 

70.  Though  Job  has  freely  criticised  the  conclusions  of  the 


XIX.  JOB  279 

And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding  ? 

Mortal  man  knoweth  not  the  price  of  it  ; 

Nor  is  it  found  in  the  land  of  the  living. 

The  deep  saith,  It  is  not  in  me ; 

The  sea  saith  likewise,  Not  with  me.  75 

Fine  gold  shall  not  be  given  for  it, 

Nor  shall  silver  be  weighed  as  the  exchange 

thereof ; 
It  cannot  be  bought  with  the  stamped  gold  of 

Ophir, 
With  the  precious  onyx  and  the  sapphire ; 
Gold  and  glass  cannot  be  prized  with  it,  so 

Nor  is  its  exchange  vases  of  fine  gold. 
Corals  and  crystal  are  not  to  be  named  with 

it; 
And  the  possession  of  wisdom  is  above  pearls. 
The  topaz  of  Ethiopia  cannot  be  bartered  for 

it; 

Chap,  xxviii.  12-19. 
Hebrew  Wisdom,  as  brought  forth  by  the  friends,  and  per- 
haps even  as  quoted  by  himself  (see  section  xvi.  74  sqq. 
note),  yet  of  the  true  Wisdom  he  is  still  the  loyal  devotee. 
And  as  the  Book  of  Job  is  the  ripest  product  of  the  Hebrew 
Wisdom,  so  it  is  fitting  that  this  chapter,  its  culmination  and 
crown,  should  be  devoted  to  the  definition  and  praise  of  Wis- 
dom. 

78.  The  several  Hebrew  words  for  gold  can  be  at  best  but 
awkwardly  reproduced  in  English ;  but  some  attempt  at  dis- 
crimination can  be  made,  as  here,  by  a  recourse  to  the  root- 
meanings.  The  "  stamped  gold  "  may  refer  to  the  peculiar 
mark  put  upon  the  gold  of  Ophir. 


28o  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XIX. 

It  cannot  be  put  in  the  balance  with  gold    of 
purest  stamp.  85 

But  Wisdom  —  whence  then  cometh  it } 
And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding  ?  — 
Since  it  is  hid  from  the  eyes  of  all  Hving, 
And  kept  secret  from  the  bird  of  the  heaven  } 
Abaddon  and  Death  say,  90 

'We  have  heard  but  a  rumor  of  it  with   our 

ears.' 
God  understandeth  the  way  thereto. 
And  He  knoweth  its  place. 
For  He  looketh  to  the  ends  of  the  earth ; 
Under  the  whole  heaven  He  seeth.  .95 

When  He  gave  the  wind  its  weight, 
And  meted  out  the  waters  in  a  measure,  — ^ 
When  He  gave  a  law  to  the  rain, 
And  a  way  to  the  flash  of  the  thunder,  — 
Then  did  He  see,  and  declare  it  ;  100 

He  established  it,  yea,  He  searched  it  out. 
And  unto  man  He  said. 

Chap,  xxviii.  19-28. 

90.  Abaddon,  —  or  destruction.  See  section  xviii.  lo,  ii, 
and  note. 

96-99.  Just  as  everything  in  nature  is  precisely  determined, 
just  as  the  rain  has  its  law  and  the  lightning  its  appointed 
direction  (compare  section  xxv.  65,  66),  so  man  has  a  law 
which  is  his  wisdom,  a  way  of  life  in  which  alone  he  finds  his 
goal. 

102.  Unto  matt,  —  whatever  is  the  law  of  other  creatures 
and  forces,  here  is  what  alone  concerns  man. 


XIX.  JOB  281 

*  Behold,  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  Wisdom, 
And  to  shun  evil  is  understanding.'  " 

Chap,  xxviii.  20-28. 

103.  The  Lord,  —  the  original  word  is  not  the  name  Jeho- 
vah, but  a  word  meaning  more  specifically  Lord  or  Master, 
and  perhaps  especially  appropriate  here  where  as  Creator  He 
is  viewed  in  relation  to  His  great  works. 

103,  104.  These  are  just  what  Job  started  with,  section  i. 
2,  3 ;  but  they  have  reached  a  significance  far  beyond  what 
they  had  then.  He  has  tested  and  maintained  them  through 
the  fiercest  fires  of  struggle  and  affliction  ;  and  not  only  has 
he  proved  them  true,  but  he  has  defined  as  never  before  what 
it  involves  to  fear  God  and  shun  evil,  —  even  all  that  Satan 
doubted  of  him.  Further,  that  very  integrity  has  been  to  Job 
for  insight  into  the  deeps  of  things ;  the  faith  that  was  born 
of  his  loyalty  to  what  was  holy  and  loving  has  indeed  proved 
itself  "understanding."  This,  then,  is  the  highest  expression 
of  Job's  vindication. 


XX 

JOB 


And  Job  took  up  his  discourse  yet  further,  and 
said : 


"  Oh  that  I  were  as  in  months  of  old. 
As  in  the  days  when  God  watched  over  me  ; 
When  His  lamp  shone  over  my  head. 
When  by  His   light  I  walked  through  dark- 
ness ;  5 
As  I  was  in  mine  autumn  days, 
When  the  friendship  of  God  was  over  my  tent ; 
While  yet  the  Almighty  was  with  me, 
And  round  about  me  were  my  children  ; 
When  my  steps  were  washed  with  cream,       lo 

Chap.  xxix.  i-6. 

Having  thus  reached  the  culmination  of  his  argument,  Job 
here,  in  a  retrospect,  gathers  up  the  threads  of  his  past  life 
and  his  present  affliction,  to  present  them  as  his  vindication 
before  God. 

Line  4.  Compa-re  section  xi.  11,  12,  and  note. 

6.  Mtne  autumn  days,  —  days  of  ripeness  and  fruitfulness. 

7.  The  friendship  of  God,  —  literally,  "  the  secret  of  God." 
Compare  section  xii.  38,  and  note. 


XX.  JOB  2^3 

And  the  rock  poured  forth  beside  me  streams 

of  oil ; 
When  I  went  forth  to  the  gate  by  the  city  ; 
When  I  fixed  my  seat  in  the  open  place. 
Young  men  saw  me,  and  withdrew  themselves, 
And  old  men  arose  and  stood  up  ;  is 

Princes  checked  their  words, 
And  laid  their  hand  upon  their  mouth  ; 
The  voice  of  nobles  was  hushed, 
And  their  tongue  cleaved  to  their  palate. 

For  the  ear  that  heard  blessed  me  ;  20 

And  the  eye  that  saw  bare  witness  for  me  ; 
Because  I  had   delivered   the   poor   when   he 

cried, 
The   fatherless   also,   and    him   that    had    no 

helper. 
The  blessing  of  the  perishing  came  upon  me. 
And  I  made  the  widow's  heart  sing  for  joy.    25 

Chap.  xxix.  6-13. 

12.  The  city  gate  was  the  place  where  counsel  was  held 
and  judgment  pronounced.  Job  was  emment  among  the 
judges  and  wise  men. 

13.  The  open  place,  near  the  gate,  was  more  specifically  the 
place  of  judgment  and  assembly. 

14-19.  Marks  of  respect  from  various  ages  and  ranks,  in- 
dicating that  Job  had  been  recognized  as  "  the  greatest  of  all 
the  sons  of  the  East  "  (section  i.  lo). 

22-33.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  ancient  portrayals  of  vir- 
tue, founded  on  a  Christian  ideal  of  love  and  mercy,  rather 
than  on  the  ideal  of  mere  justice  and  law-keeping,  such  as 
afterward  obtained  among  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees. 


2^4  ^^^^  BOOK  OF  JOB  XX. 

I  clothed  myself  in  justice,  and  it  clothed  itself 

with  me  ; 
As   a  mantle  and  as  a  turban  was   my  judg- 
ment. 
I  was  eyes  to  the  blind, 
And  feet  to  the  lame  was  I  ; 
A  father  was  I  to  the  needy,  30 

And  I  searched  out  the  cause  of  him  that  I 

knew  not. 
And  I  brake  the  fangs  of  the  wicked, 
And  from  his  teeth  I  snatched  the  prey. 

And  I  said,  *  I  shall  expire  in  my  nest, 
And  like  the  phoenix  I  shall  multiply  days.      35 
My  root  shall  be  spread  out  to  the  waters, 
And  the  dew  shall  lie  all  night  on  my  branch. 
My  glory  shall  be  fresh  within  me, 
And  my  bow  shall  be  renewed  in  my  hand.' 

Unto  me  they  gave  ear,  and  waited ;  40 

And  they  were  silent,  listening  for  my  counsel. 

Chap.  xxix.  14-21. 

26.  "Job  clothed  himself  with  righteousness,  so  that  as  a 
man  he  was  lost  in  the  justice  that  clothed  him  ;  and  justice 
clothed  itself  in  him,  —  he  on  the  other  hand  was  justice  be- 
come a  person."  —  Davidson. 

31.  Job's  helpful  spirit  was  not  dependent  on  the  attrac- 
tion of  relatives  and  personal  friends :  he  that  was  a  stranger 
and  had  no  natural  claims  fared  just  as  well. 

35.  The  phanix,  —  the  original  word  is  not  certainly  known, 
but  seems  to  refer  to  that  fabulous  bird  which  is  said  to  re- 
new its  youth  and  attain  a  great  age. 


XX.  JOB  285 

After  my  words  they  spake  not  again ; 

For  upon  them  my  speech  descended  gently, 

And  they  waited  for  me  as  for  the  rain, 

And  opened  their  mouths  wide  as  for  the  latter 

rain.  45 

I  laughed  upon  them  when  they  were  doubtful, 
And  the  light  of  my  countenance  they  cast  not 

down. 
I  chose  their  way,  and  sat  as  their  head  ; 
And  I  dwelt  as  a  king  in  the  multitude,  — 
As  one  that  comforteth  mourners.  50 


"  And  now  they  mock  at  me,  —  men  younger 

in  days  than  I, 
Whose  fathers  I  disdained  to  set  with  the  dogs 

of  my  flock. 
Nay,   the   strength   of   their  hands  —  what  is 

that  to  me } 
Men  to  whom  the  vigor  of  age  is  lost  ; 
Gaunt  they  are  with  want  and  hunger ;  55 

Chap.  xxix.  22  —  xxx.  3. 

42.  They  spake  not  again,  —  because  the  best  and  conclu- 
sive word  had  been  spoken,  and  needed  no  supplement. 

45.  Like  young  birds  opening  their  mouths  for  food. 

51.  The  second  division  of  Job's  retrospect,  here  begin- 
ning, draws  the  sad  contrast  between  that  past  and  the  joy- 
less present. 

54-60.  Job  describes  the  outlaws  and  vagabonds  of  a  pas- 
toral country,  w  hose  refuge  is  the  desert ;  the  same  class,  per- 


286  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XX. 

Who  gnaw  the  dry  ground  in  the  gloom  of 
wild  and  wilderness ; 

Who  pluck  up  the  purslain  by  the  sprouts, 

And  the  root  of  the  broom  is  their  bread. 

They  are  driven  forth  from  society  ; 

Men  cry  after  them  as  after  a  thief.  eo 

In  the  horror  of  the  ravines  must  they  dwell ; 

In  holes  of  the  earth,  and  among  the  crags. 

They  bray  among  the  thickets  ; 

Under  the  nettles  they  herd  together. 

Children  of   folly,  yea,   children  of   nameless 
men,  —  65 

They  are  scourged  out  of  the  land. 

And  now  their  song  of  derision  am  I   be- 
come ; 

Chap.  xxx.  3-9. 

haps,  which  he  has  represented,  section  xvi.  41-50,  as  added 
to  by  the  tyranny  of  the  unscrupulous  wicked  around  him, 

56.  Wild  and  wilderness^  —  in  this  translation  an  attempt 
is  made  to  reproduce  something  of  the  meaning  and  word- 
play effect  of  the  original. 

67.  Even  such  men,  the  very  dregs  of  humanity,  despise 
him  because  he  is  smitten  of  God.  Even  they,  though  under 
the  ban  of  men,  are  ready  to  curse  where  God  has  set  His 
mark  of  displeasure.  Edmund  Burke,  speaking  of  the  Cath- 
olic disabilities  of  his  time,  thus  describes  the  disposition  of 
men  to  persecute :  "  This  desire  of  having  some  one  below 
them  descends  to  those  who  are  the  very  lowest  of  all ;  and 
a  Protestant  cobbler,  debased  by  his  poverty,  but  exalted  by 
his  share  of  the  ruling  Church,  feels  a  pride  in  knowing  it  is 
by  his  generosity  alone  that  the  peer  whose  footman's  instep 
he  measures  is  able  to  keep  his  chaplain  from  a  jail." 


XX.  yoB  287 

And  I  am  to  them  for  a  byword. 

They  abhor  me,  they  stand  afar  off  from  me  ; 

And  from   my  face   they  withhold   not   their 

spittle.  70 

Because  He  hath  loosed  my  cord  and  bowed 

me  down, 
They  also  have  cast  off  the  bridle  before  me. 
On  my  right  hand  they  rise  —  a  rabble  ; 
They  thrust  my  feet  aside  ; 
They   cast   up   against   me   their    destructive 

ways.  75 

They  break  up  my  path  ; 
They  help  forward  my  hurt  ; 
They  —  who  themselves  have  no  helper. 
As  through  a  wide  breach  they  come  in  ; 
Under  the  crash  they  roll  themselves  along  ;  — 
All  overturned  upon  me  —  terrors —  si 

They  chase  away  mine  honor  like  the  wind  ; 
And  like  a  cloud  my  prosperity  passeth. 

And  now  my  soul  within  me  is  poured  out  ; 
Days  of  affliction  take  fast  hold  upon  me.        ss 

Chap.  xxx.  9-16. 

71,  72.  This  it  is  that  has  caused  Job's  sensitive  and  loving 
heart  the  most  poignant  pain,  —  because  men's  treatment  of 
him  does  not  proceed  from  genuine  heart-feeling,  but  from 
a  conventional  idea  of  what  God's  disposition  is.  Compare 
section  iv.  43,  note. 

75-80.  The  old  figure  of  a  host  against  him  and  a  siege, 
only  now  associated  with  men  rather  than  with  God's  unseen 
agencies. 


288  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XX. 

Night  pierceth  out  my  bones  away  from  me  ; 
And  my  gnawing  pains  lie  not  down  to  rest. 
It  is  by  great   exertion    that  my  garment  is 

changed ; 
Like  the  collar  of  my  tunic  it  clingeth  about 

me. 
He  hath  cast  me  into  the  mire  ;  90 

And  I  have  taken  the  semblance  of  dust  and 

ashes. 
I  cry  unto  Thee,  and  Thou  answerest  me  not  ; 
I  stand  before  Thee,  and  Thou  beholdest  me  ; 
Yet  Thou  art  become  cruel  unto  me ; 
By  the  might  of  Thy  hand  Thou  fetterest  me.  95 
Thou  liftest  me  up  on  the  wind,  where  Thou 

makest  me  ride  ; 
And  Thou  dissolvest  me  in  the  crash  of  the 

storm. 
For  I  know  that   Thou  turnest  me  back  to 

death, 


Chap,  xxx,  17-23. 

86.  A  vivid  description  of  his  fearful  emaciation. 

96,  97.  The  momentum  of  Job's  vivid  thought  bears  him 
onward  into  very  bold  imagery ;  descriptive  probably  of  the 
whirling,  bewildering,  perilous  seeming  spiritual  experience 
that  he  is  compelled  to  undergo. 

98.  We  will  bear  in  mind  that  Job's  greater  calmness  and 
hopefulness  of  late  have  not  been  due  to  release  from  death  or 
suffering ;  he  still  accepts  the  prospect  of  death,  and  draws 
near  to  it  with  the  assured  hope  of  one  who  knows  that ,  his 
Redeemer  liveth. 


XX.  JOB  289 

To  the  house  of  assembly  for  all  living. 

Surely,  will  not  a  man  in  ruins  stretch  out 
his  hand  ?  100 

Or  in  his  calamity  will  he  not  cry  out  there- 
fore ? 

Have  not  /wept  for  him  whose  day  was  hard  ? 

Hath  not  my  soul  grieved  for  the  needy  ? 

Yet  I  looked  for  good,  and  there  came  evil ; 

I  waited  for  light,  and  there  came  darkness.    105 
My  bowels  boil,  and  are  not  still  ; 

Days  of  anguish  overtake  me. 

I  go  about  darkened,  but  not  with  the  sun's 
glow; 

When  I  stand  in  the  assembly  I  must  cry  out 
for  pain. 

Brother  am  I  to  the  jackals,  no 

And  companion  to  the  daughters  of  the  ostrich. 

My  blackened  skin  falleth  from  me, 

And  my  bones  burn  up  with  heat. 

Chap.  xxx.  23-30. 

102-105.  An  appeal  to  the  compassion  that  should  exist 
above,  corresponding  to  the  like  emotions  of  men.  Such  an- 
thropopathism  is  the  only  basis  on  which  man  can  philoso- 
phize ;  and  the  fact  that  Job  can  find  in  the  darkness  no 
counterpart  to  his  highest  self  is  the  deepest  cause  of  his  per- 
plexity. 

106  sqq.  All  this  paragraph  contains  observed  symptoms 
and  characteristics  of  elephantiasis. 

no.  He  is  cast  out  of  society,  and  so  compelled  to  be  like 
the  beasts  and  birds  of  the  desert. 


290  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XX. 

So  is  my  harp  turned  to  mourning, 

And  my  pipe  to  the  voice  of  them  that  weep,   ns 

III. 

"  I  made  a  covenant  for  mine  eyes  ; 
How  then  should  I  look  upon  a  maid  } 
Vox  what  is  the  allotment  of  God  from  above, 
And  the  heritage  of  the  Almighty  from  on  high .? 
Is  it  not  destruction  to  the  wicked,  120 

And  disaster  to  the  workers  of  iniquity  t 
Is  He  not  seeing  my  way. 
And  numbering  all  my  steps  .-* 

If  I  have  walked  with  vanity. 
And  my  foot  hath  made  haste  to  deceit,  —    125 

Chap.  xxx.  31  —  xxxi.  5. 

116.  This  third  division  of  the  section,  here  beginning, 
contains  Job's  last  and  strongest  asseverations  of  righteous- 
ness, a  kind  of  solemn  testimony  which  is  to  be  lifted  up  be- 
fore God  (II.  187-192,)  to  be  seen  and  judged. 

118-121.  Job  alludes  to  Zophar's  description  of  the  doom 
of  the  wicked  (see  section  xiii.  59,  60),  the  strongest  that  has 
yet  been  given,  as  defining,  whether  exaggeratedly  or  not,  the 
stern  warning  by  which  he  has  kept  himself  from  evil. 

122.  Thus  he  contradicts  Eliphaz's  accusation,  section  xv. 
22-27;  "ay,  it  has  been  one  element  of  his  complaint  that 
Ood  has  watched  him,  all  too  closely  (sections  iv.  100-104 ; 
viii.  106-109),  and  his  longing  to  be  laid  away  in  the  grave 
has  been  sharpened  by  the  thought  that  the  watching  and 
numbering  of  steps  would  cease  (section  viii.  145-148).  Yet 
such  consciousness  has  determined  his  whole  life. 

124,  125.  The  Hebrew  manner  of  designating  falseness  of 
life  and  word  ;  compare  Psalm  xxiv.  4. 


XX.  JOB  291 

Let  Him  weigh  me  in  scales  of  righteousness, 
And  let  God  know  mine  integrity  !  — 
If  my  step  hath  turned  from  the  way, 
And  after  mine  eyes  hath  walked  my  heart. 
And  a  stain  hath  cleaved  to  my  hands,  —       130 
Let  me  sow,  and  another  eat, 
And  my  sprouted  grain  —  let  it  be  rooted  out. 
If  my  heart  have  been  befooled  by  a  woman, 
And  I  have  lain  in  wait  at  my  neighbor's  door, 
Let  my  wife  grind  for  another,  135 

And  let  others  crouch  over  her ; 
For  that  were  an  infamous  thing,  — 
Yea,  a  crime  that,  for  them  that  pass  judg- 
ment. 
For  it  is  a  fire ;  unto  Abaddon  it  devoureth  ; 
And  all  mine  increase  it  would  root  out.         i4o 
If  I  have  spurned  the  right  of  my  servant 
and  my  handmaid. 
When  they  have  had  controversy  with  me. 
What  then  shall  I  do  when  God  ariseth  .? 
And  when   He  visiteth,  what  shall  I  answer 
Him.? 

Chap.  xxxr.  6-14. 

126,  127.  This  parenthesis  invites  the  strictest  standard  of 
judgment,  as  it  accepts  the  severest  penalty. 

135.  Grinding  was  the  representative  occupation  of  the 
female  slave,  hence  chosen  as  the  mark  that  his  wife  is 
domiciled  and  degraded  in  another  house. 

139.   Unto  Abaddon^  —  see  section  xviii.  lo,  ii,  note. 


292  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XX. 

Did  not  He  that  made  me  in  the  womb  make 
him  ?  145 

And   did    not   one   Being   fashion   us   in   the 
belly  ? 
If  I  have  kept  back  the  poor  from  their  de- 
sire, 

And  caused  the  widow's  eyes  to  fail, 

And  have  eaten  my  morsel  alone, 

And  the  fatherless  hath  not  eaten  thereof,  — 150 

Nay,  from  my  youth  he  grew  up  to  me  as  to  a 
father. 

And   from   my   mother's    womb    I    protected 
her ;  — 

If  I  have  seen  one  perishing  for  lack  of  cloth- 
ing, 

And  the  poor  without  covering,  — 

Nay,  rather  his  loins  blessed  me,  155 

And  from  the  fleece  of  my  lambs  he  warmed 
himself ;  — 

Chap.  xxxi.  15-20. 

145.  Job  retains  the  pure  ideal  of  the  oneness  of  all  the 
race,  —  an  ideal  which,  it  would  seem,  was  fading  in  the  gen- 
eral tendency  of  the  time  to  separate  classes ;  compare  sec- 
tion xvi.  36  sqq.  note. 

151.  The  fact  of  Job's  compassion  and  benevolence  is  so 
evident  that  he  cannot  finish  bringing  up  the  contemplation 
of  its  opposite  even  as  a  supposition ;  so  again  below,  11.  155, 
175.  He  doubtless  has  in  mind  Eliphaz's  vague  accusations, 
section  xv.  10-17,  which  as  he  passes  them  in  review  are  so 
palpably  false  that  he  thus  breaks  them  off. 


XX.  yoB  293 

If  I  have  lifted  up  my  hand  against  the  father- 
less, 
When  I  saw  mine  ally  in  the  gate, 
Let  my  shoulder  fall  from  the  shoulder-blade. 
And  let  mine  arm  be  broken  from  its  bone,    leo 
For  fear  was  upon  me  of  calamity  from  God  ; 
And  because  of  His  majesty  I  could  not. 

If  I  have  made  gold  my  trust, 
And  to  the  coined  gold  said,  '  My  confidence 
thou  ; '  164 

If  I  have  rejoiced  because  my  wealth  was  great, 
And  because  my  hand  had  gotten  much  ;  — 
If  when  I  saw  the  sunlight  as  it  shone. 
And  the  moon  walking  in  splendor, 
My  heart  was  enticed  in  secret, 
And  my  hand  kissed  my  mouth,  .  no 

Chap.  xxxi.  21-27. 

158.  Mine  ally, —  another  reminiscence  of  Eliphaz's  accu- 
sation, section  xv.   15,  who  represented  that  Job  had  neg-- 
lected  the  needy  because  others,  "  the  respected  of  person," 
were  his  closer  favorites. 

161,  162.  This  same  fear  was  mentioned  as  the  constant 
attendant  of  his  life,  section  ii.  51-54,  where  see  note;  and 
God's  "majesty"  has  kept  him  from  falseness  and  impelled 
him  to  rebuke  his  friends  for  time-serving,  section  viii.  73. 

163.  Eliphaz's  exhortation  to  Job,  section  xv.  46-48,  has 
seemed  to  imply  that  Job  was  too  fond  of  money ;  perhaps 
this  is  introduced  in  allusion  and  answer  to  that. 

167-170.  A  reference  to  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
which  before  the  Babylonian  exile,  as  Jeremiah  xliv.  17  sqq. 
indicates,  was  prevalent  in  Palestine. 


294  ^-^^   BOOK  OF  JOB  XX. 

This  too  were  a  crime  for  the  judges, 
For  so  I  had  been  false  to  God  on  high. 

If  I  have  rejoiced  at  the  calamity  of  him  that 
hated  me, 
And  have  exulted  because  evil  befell  him,  — 
Nay,  but  I  gave  not  my  mouth  to  sin,  ns 

By  invoking  a  curse  on  his  life ; 
In  sooth,  the  men  of  my  tent  say, 
'Who  will  show   us   one   not   filled  with  his 

flesh  }  ' 
The  stranger  lodged  never  without ; 
I  opened  my  doors  to  the  wayfarer.  iso 

If  like  Adam  I  have  covered  my  transgres- 
sions. 
To  hide  mine  iniquity  in  my  bosom, 
Because  I  feared  the  great  multitude, 
And  the  contempt  of  clans  terrified  me, 
So  that    I    was  silent,   went  not    out  of  the 
gate,  —  185 

.  .  .  Oh  that  I  had  one  to  hear  me  !  — 

Chap.  xxxi.  28-35. 

173-176.  Here  Job  avows  a  higher  ideal  than  Eliphaz  has 
inculcated,  for  Eliphaz  makes  it  a  test  of  righteousness  to 
rejoice  at  the  calamity  of  the  wicked  ;  see  section  xv.  36-39 ; 
also  section  iii.  49.   Job  is  too  merciful  to  rejoice  at  calamity. 

175.  See  note  on  1.  151  above. 

181.  Like  Adam,  —  see  Genesis  iii.  8-1 1. 

1S6.  At  this  point  in  his  retrospect  Job  comes  suddenly  to 
realize  that  in  no  reasonable  point  has  he  failed.  The  sum 
of  his  life,  so  far  as  he  can  compute  it,  has  come  out  right ; 


XX.  JOB  295 

Behold   my   sign  !    let    the   Almighty   answer 

me  !  — 
And   the  charge   that   mine   Adversary  hath 

written  ! 
Surely,  I  will  lift  it  upon  my  shoulder ; 
I  will  bind  it  unto  me  like  a  crown  ;  wo 

I  will  declare  unto  Him  the   number  of  my 

steps  ; 
I  will  draw  near  unto  Him  like  a  prince. 

If  against  me  my  land  crieth  out, 
And  its  furrows  weep  together  ;  — 
If  I  have  eaten  its  strength  without  silver,     195 
And  caused  its  tenant  to  pant  out  his  life  ;  — 

Chap.  xxxi.  36-39. 

and  he  is  ready  to  present  the  account  to  God  for  judgment 
and  award. 

187  sq.  Afy  sign  .  .  .  and  the  charge,  —  this  record  of  an 
upright  life,  Job  means.  It  is  this  record  which  constitutes 
his  only  offense  ;  and  as  it  has  been  visited  by  punishment, 
it  may  be  ironically  named  a  "  charge,"  an  accusation,  that  in 
all  things  he  has  been  "  a  man  perfect  and  upright,  one  that 
feareth  God  and  shunneth  evil." 

189  sq.  Of  such  a  charge  he  has  no  fear.  He  is  proud  to 
come  before  God  as  a  prince,  on  equal  terms,  as  one  who  has 
a  just  cause  and  is  sure  of  vindication.  This,  all  told  off,  is 
the  "  number  of  his  steps  "  which  God  has  noted  so  narrowly 
(see  1.  123),  the  "bitter  things"  which  God  has  written 
against  him  (see  section  viii.  103),  no  longer  some  unknown 
and  fearful  sin,  but  a  life  of  honor  and  integrity. 

193-19S.  It  seems  probable  that  this  last  paragraph  is  dis- 
placed, as  the  previous  passage  forms  the  fitting  and  tri- 
umphant close  to  Job's  words. 


296  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XX. 

Instead  of  wheat  let  briars  come  up, 
And  cockle  instead  of  barley." 


THE   WORDS    OF   JOB    ARE    ENDED. 

Chap.  xxxi.  40. 

198.  Cockle^  —  from  the  derivation  of  the  word  the  more 
accurate  translation  would  be  stinkweed,  which,  however,  it 
was  not  thought  best  to  adopt  in  the  text. 


XXI 

TRANSITION 

And  these  three  men  ceased  to  answer 
Job,  because  he  was  righteous  in  his  own 
eyes. 

Then  was  kindled  the  wrath  of  Elihu,  son 
of  Barachel  the  Buzite,  of  the  family  of  Ram.    5 

Chap,  xxxii.  i,  2. 

So  far  as  the  friends  are  concerned,  Job  has  proved  him- 
self invincible :  his  righteousness,  as  he  by  the  loftiest  stan- 
dards defines  righteousness,  they  cannot  successfully  impugn. 
The  fact  that  he  has  silenced  them,  however,  is  not  in  itself 
conclusive.  There  still  remains  the  question  how  the  two 
parties  stand  in  the  absolute  light ;  and  we  have  yet  to  learn 
the  result  alike  of  Job's  impassioned  appeals  for  judgment, 
and  of  the  friends'  confident  assurance  that  they  represent 
the  mind  of  God.  To  bring  in  the  friends'  cause  anew,  and 
in  its  best  and  strongest  statement,  a  fourth  speaker,  hitherto 
unmentioned,  is  here  introduced. 

Line  4.  Elihu's  family  and  descent  are  given  with  much 
particularity,  as  if  he  were  a  veritable  historical  personage  ; 
which  of  course  we  can  neither  affirm  nor  deny.  Buz,  who 
is  mentioned  as  his  ancestor,  was  a  son  of  Nahor  (Genesis 
xxii.  21),  and  the  Buzites  are  evidently  regarded  by  Jeremiah 
(xxv.  23),  along  with  Tema,  as  an  Arab  tribe. 

5.  The  family  of  Ram.  In  2  Chronicles  xxii.  5,  the  Syri- 
ans, whose  ordinary  designation  is  Aramites,  are  called  Ram- 


298  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXI. 

Against  Job  was  his  wrath  kindled,  because 
he  justified  himself  rather  than  God  ;  and 
against  his  three  friends  was  his  wrath  kin- 
dled, because  they  found  no  answer  where- 
with to  condemn  Job.  Now  Elihu  had  10 
waited  for  Job  with  his  words,  because  they 
were  older  than  he  ;  and  when  Elihu  saw 
that  there  was  no  answer  in  the  mouth  of 
the  three  men,  his  wrath  was  kindled. 

Chap,  xxxii.  2-5. 

ites  :  this  fact,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  dialectic  pecu- 
liarities of  Elihu's  speech  are  supposably  Aramaean,  would 
make  it  most  probable  that  Elihu  was  an  Aramaean  ;  yet  the 
Buzite  descent,  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  note,  is  not 
clearly  in  favor  of  this. 

6.  From  Elihu's  and  the  friends'  point  of  view  Job's  justi- 
fication of  himself  would  be  of  necessity  condemnation  of 
God  ;  though  Job  has  merely  maintained  his  ways  (compare 
section  viii.  81-S4)  regardless  of  logical  consequences,  and 
with  increasing  trust  in  God's  goodness  and  love. 

9.  It  is  not  because  the  friends  are  wrong  that  Elihu  is 
angry  with  them,  but  because  their  argument  is  not  strong 
enough.  His  whole  attitude  is  essentially  one  with  theirs; 
he  merely  enters  the  lists  as  a  better  representative  of  their 
cause. 

12-14.  Elihu  has  the  fire  and  impatience  of  youth  ;  he  is 
irritated  because  their  words,  moving  cautiously  in  the  lines 
of  the  ancient  Wisdom,  and  keeping  within  the  bounds  of 
tradition,  are  not  like  a  direct  "  answer  "  fitted  to  the  present 
case.  Speaking  broadly,  we  may  say,  Elihu  may  be  regarded 
as  furnishing  the  test  whether  the  Wisdom  philosophy  will 
have  resources  enough,  in  the  hands  of  a  new  interpreter,  to 
meet  the  strain  which  Job's  case  and  his  valiant  self-defense 
impose  upon  it. 


XXII 

ELIHU 

And  Elihu,   son  of  Barachel  the  Buzite,   an- 
swered and  said : 


**  Young  am  I  in  days,  and  ye  are  hoary  ; 

Wherefore  I  shrank  and  was  afraid 

To  utter  unto  you  what  I  know. 

I  said,  Days  should  speak,  y 

And  multitude  of  years  should  make  known 
wisdom. 

But  truly,  a  spirit  there  is  in  mortal  man. 

And  a  breath  of  the  Almighty,  that  giveth  un- 
derstanding. 

Chap,  xxxii.  6-8. 

Line  2.  Elihu's  youth,  while  it  explains  his  delay  and  dif- 
fidence, also  determines  the  character  of  his  thought,  which 
is  self-confident,  constructive,  unconventional,  less  bound  by 
tradition  and  precedent  than  that  of  the  friends. 

7,  8.  Through  this  reflection  he  leaps  from  excessive  hes- 
itation, which  after  all  has  a  kind  of  egotism  about  it,  to  ex- 
cessive boldness,  even  wordiness.  He  says  so  much  about 
his  modesty  that  we  begin  to  distrust  it, — a  clever  bit  of 
characterization  on  the  part  of  the  author. 


300  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXII. 

Not  the  great  alone  are  wise, 

Nor  is  it  the  aged  that  understand  judgment,  lo 

Therefore  I  say,  Listen  unto  me  ; 

I  will  utter  knowledge,  even  I. 

Behold,  I  waited  for  your  words  ; 
I  gave  ear  unto  your  reasonings, 
Until  ye  should  search  out  what  to  say.  is 

Yea,  unto  you  I  gave  attention. 
And  behold  —  none  that  convinced  Job, 
None  of  you  that  answered  his  words. 
Lest  ye  should  say.  We  have  found  wisdom, 
God  will  vanquish  him,  not  man  ;  20 

For  not  against  me  hath  he  directed  words. 
Nor  will  I  answer  him  with  your  arguments. 
They  are  dismayed,  they  do  not  answer  more  ; 
Words  have  fled  away  from  them. 
And  I  waited  —  for  they  did  not  speak,  —      25 

Chap,  xxxii.  9-16. 

9,  10.  This  reflection  that  age  is  not  necessarily  a  requisite 
to  wisdom  is  no  more  than  Job  has  already  made  ;  see  sec- 
tion viii.  25,  26. 

13  sqq.  The  present  paragraph  is  made  intentionally  ver- 
bose, in  order  to  set  forth  the  character  of  the  man.  Con- 
sider how  little  is  really  said,  and  how  many  repetitions  there 
are. 

20,  21.  Elihu  is  so  "stung  by  the  splendor  of  a  sudden 
thought "  that  his  self-confidence  overleaps  itself ;  he  identi- 
fies his  thoughts  with  God's  thoughts,  and  regards  himself  as 
the  mouthpiece  of  a  divine  communication. 

25-29.  The  idea  of  being  the  vehicle  of  absolute  truth 
raises  his  conceit,  and  the  pronoun  /  begins  to  play  an  im- 
portant part. 


XXII.  ELIHU  301 

For  they  stood  still,  and  did  not  answer  more. 

I  will  answer,  yea  I,  for  my  part ; 

I  will  utter  knowledge,  even  I. 

For  I  am  full  of  words  ; 

The  spirit  in  my  breast  constraineth  me ;        so 

Behold,  my  heart  is  as  wine  that  hath  no  vent, 

As  new  bottles  that  are  ready  to  burst. 

I  will  speak,  and  it  will  be  a  relief  to  me  ; 

I  will  open  my  lips  and  answer. 

Let  me  not  now  accept  the  person  of  men,      35 

Nor  let  me  use  flattery  unto  human  kind  ; 

For  I  know  not  how  to  flatter,  — 

Else  would  my  Maker  soon  take  me  away. 

II. 

*'Yet  hear  now,  O  Job,  my  speech, 

And  unto  all  my  words  give  ear.  40 

Chap.  XXXII.  16  —  xxxiii.  i. 

32.  Alas  !  he  mistakes  tumidity  for  inspiration  ;  let  not  this 
fact,  however,  blind  us  to  the  real  worth  of  his  words.  The 
reader  does  not  need  to  be  reminded  here  that  Elihu  has  in 
mind  the  skin-bottles  of  the  East. 

35.  Elihu  prides  himself  on  his  impartiality  and  his  original 
views.  Job  accused  the  friends  of  special  pleading  for  God 
(see  section  viii.  65-68),  and  perhaps  Elihu  alludes  to  that; 
but  he  turns  it  around.  He  will  not  accept  either  Job's  per- 
son or  the  person  of  the  friends.  Eliphaz's  wisdom,  Bildad's 
learning,  Zophar's  eloquence,  are  nothing  except  as  they  em- 
body reason  and  truth. 

38.  My  Maker,  —  this  designation  of  God  is  peculiar  to 
Elihu  ;  see  sections  xxiv.  18  ;  xxv.  5. 


302  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXII. 

Behold  now,  I  have  opened  my  mouth ; 

My  tongue  hath  spoken  in  my  palate. 

The  uprightness  of  my  heart  are  these  words 
of  mine, 

And  my  lips  shall  speak  their  knowledge  sin- 
cerely. 

The  spirit  of  God  hath  made  me  ;  45 

And  the  breath  of  the  Almighty  giveth  me  life. 

If  thou  art  able,  answer  me  ; 

Set  words  in  array  before  me,  take  thy  stand. 

Behold,  I,  according  to  thy  word,  stand  for 
God  ; 

Out  of  clay  am  I  moulded,  also  I  ;  50 

Behold  my  terror  shall  not  unman  thee. 

Nor  will  my  burden  upon  thee  be  heavy. 

Chap,  xxxiit.  2-7. 

45,  46.  By  these  same  characteristics  he  has  identified  him- 
self, 11.  7,  8,  with  mankind  ;  here  he  simply  reminds  Job  that 
it  is  as  a  man  that  he  represents  the  mind  of  God.  This  he 
says  in  preparation  for  the  assumption  that  he  is  about  to 
make. 

49.  A  reference  to  Job's  wish  for  a  Daysman,  section  vi. 
62-69.  Elihu  is  so  sure  of  knowing  God's  mind  that  he  as- 
sumes to  fulfill  Job's  wish ;  as  a  man  he  will  stand  between 
Job  and  God,  and  mitigate  the  divine  terrors.  This  of  course 
puts  the  whole  idea  of  a  Daysman  on  a  lower  plane,  and  en- 
tirely ignores  the  conquering  faith  by  which  Job  found  what 
he  sought.  Job  is  beyond  the  need  of  what  Elihu  can  offer ; 
while  Elihu  is  blind  to  the  higher  reaches  of  the  Messianic 
idea  with  which  Job  has  been  comforted. 


XXII.  ELIHU  303 


III. 

"  Verily,  thou  hast  said  in  mine  ears, 
And  I  have  heard  the  voice  of  thy  words  : 
'  Pure  am  I,  without  transgression  ;  55 

Clean  am  I,  and  there  is  no  iniquity  in  me. 
Behold,  He  findeth  occasions  against  me ; 
He  counteth  me  for  His  enemy  ; 
He  putteth  my  feet  in  the  stocks  ; 
He  marketh  all  my  paths.'  eo 

Behold,  in  this,  I  answer  thee,  thou  art  not 
just; 
For  greater  is  God  than  mortal  man. 
Why  makest  thou  complaint  against  Him, 
That  He  answereth  thee  by  no  word  of  His  ? 

Chap,  xxxni.  8-13. 

55,  56.  Compare  Job's  words,  sections  vi.  40,  84 ;  viii.  81, 
82  ;  X.  39,  40 ;  xii.  59  (see  note).  The  assertions  of  inno- 
cence that  Job  has  made  in  reference  to  his  excess  of  punish- 
ment Eiihu  takes  as  having  been  made  in  the  absolute  sense. 

57.  Not  an  exact  quotation,  but  reproducing  the  sense  of 
such  passages  as  section  vi.  96-107. 

58.  Compare  section  xii.  21. 

59.  60.  Compare  section  viii.  105,  106. 

62.  That  is,  enough  greater  to  have  a  transcendent  stan- 
dard of  judgment  which  man  cannot  discover.  We  have  no 
business,  therefore,  to  say  either  what  is  human  righteousness 
or  what  is  divine  punishment. 

64.  This  has  been  a  very  poignant  element  of  Job's  bewil- 
derment ;  in  fact,  he  has  condensed  his  whole  longing  into  a 
desire  for  an  answer.     Elihu  refers  more  immediately,  per- 


304  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXII. 

For  God  speaketh  —  once,  es 

Yea,  twice,  while  man  regardeth  it  not : 
In  dream,  in  vision  of  the  night, 
When  falleth  deep  sleep  upon  men, 
In  slumberings  upon  the  bed, 
Then  uncovereth  He  the  ear  of  men,  70 

And  setteth  a  seal  upon  the  warning, 
To  make  man  put  away  his  evil  deed, 
And  to  hide  pride  from  the  strong  man ; 
To  keep  back  his  soul  from  the  pit, 
And  his  life  from  passing  by  the  dart.  75 

He  is  chastened  also  with  anguish  upon   his 
bed, 

Chap,  xxxiii.  14-19. 

haps,  to  Job's  words,  section  xx.  92  ;  compare  also  section  xii. 
12,  13. 

67.  The  first  way  in  which  God  answers.  ■  Elihu  means 
dreams  in  general,  with  perhaps  a  reference  to  Eliphaz's 
vision,  section  iii.  22-32,  which  was  well  utilized  for  instruc- 
tion, and  to  Job's  terrifying  visions,  section  iv.  90,  91,  in  which 
Job  has  found  no  meaning. 

7 1 .  Setteth  a  seal^  —  that  is,  gives  it  some  mark  or  sign 
whereby  it  can  be  interpreted  as  from  God. 

74.  The  pit ^ — a  favorite  expression  of  Elihi^s,  occurring 
no  fewer  than  five  times  in  the  present  section.  By  it  he 
seems  to  mean,  not  necessarily  death,  but  that  extreme  depth 
of  trial  and  affliction  which  would  issue  in  death  were  it  not 
for  deliverance. 

75.  The  dart  is  the  dart  of  Death,  as  the  instrument  of 
retribution. 

76.  The  second  means  whereby  God  speaks,  —  affliction. 
This  is  a  direct  reference  to  Job's  suffering,  which  Elihu  in- 


XXII.  ELIHU  305 

And  the  strife  of  his  bones  is  unceasing  ; 

And  his  life  abhorreth  bread, 

And  his  soul  dainty  meat ; 

His  flesh  consumeth  away,  out  of  sight,  so 

And  laid  bare  are  his  bones,  that  before  were 

not  seen  ; 
And  his  soul  draweth  near  to  the  pit, 
And  his  life  to  the  Destroying  Ones. 

IV. 

"  If  then  there  be  with  him  a  messenger, 

An  interpreter,  one  of  a  thousand,  ss 

To  show  unto  man  what  is  right  for  him, — 

Chap,  xxxiii.  19-23. 

terprets,  not  as  punishment,  but  as  a  vehicle  of  instruction  and 
warning.  Some  of  the  main  features  of  Job's  disease  are 
specified  in  Elihu's  description,  so  that  the  reference  may  be 
made  plain. 

83.  The  Destroying  Ones,  —  angels  or  agencies  of  fate ; 
perhaps  the  mysterious  "  they "  to  which  Job  has  several 
times  referred. 

84.  Here  is  introduced  Elihu's  theory  of  the  way  in  which 
these  messages  of  God  are  to  be  made  intelligible.  Some 
messenger  is  needed  to  trace  God's  mind  and  will  through 
the  dream  and  the  affliction.  The  word  translated  literally 
messenger  is  the  same  word  used  to  designate  angel ;  but  in 
the  present  case  Elihu,  who  carefully  ignores  the  supernat- 
ural, seems  to  mean  himself,  as  a  representative  of  God. 
This  is  quite  in  accordance  with  his  assumption  of  the  Days- 
man's office,  11.  49-52,  and  with  his  general  exalted  opinion 
of  himself.     He  has  arrived  just  in  time  to  set  things  right. 

85.  One  of  a  thousand,  —  that  is,  one  exceptionally  quali- 


306  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXIL 

So  doth  He  show  grace,  and  say, 

•  Deliver  him  from  going  down  to  the  pit ; 
I  have  found  a  ransom.' 

Fresher    than    a    child's     then    cometh     his 
flesh ;  90 

He  returneth  to  the  days  of  his  young  vigor. 
He  prayeth  unto  God,  who  accepteth  him, 
And  maketh  him  see  His  face  with  joy, 
And  giveth  back  to  the  mortal  his  righteous- 
ness. 
Then  he  singeth  before  men,  and  saith  :  95 

*  I  sinned,  and  perverted  the  right, 
Yet  retribution  came  not  upon  me. 

He  hath  delivered  my  soul  from  going  to  the 

pit. 
And  my  life  shall  behold  the  light.* 

Chap,  xxxrii.  24-28. 

fied,  by  gifts  and  by  the  divine  authorization  that  lies  in  his 
endowments. 

90-94.  A  prophecy  of  what  actually  took  place,  but  not  by 
Elihu's  intercession  nor  recognizing  his  principles. 

96  sqq.  Elihu  has  here  a  full-fledged  theory  of  atonement, 
—  a  theory  which,  like  his  Messiah-theory,  is  thoroughly 
rationalistic.  There  is  no  supernatural  element  in  it,  except 
what  inheres  in  his  theory  of  the  Daysman.  Observe  also  its 
crudeness  :  it  contemplates  merely  release  from  the  punish- 
ment of  sin,  and  its  highest  ideal  is  restoration  to  the  welfare 
of  this  life.  In  this  respect  it  moves  on  a  much  lower  plane 
than  does  Job,  with  his  confidence  in  a  Redeemer  and  his 
hopeful  readiness  to  meet  death  ;  while  it  is  also  thoroughly 
identical  with  the  other  friends'  idea  of  blessing. 


XX  IT.  ELIHU  307 

Lo,  all  these  things  worketh  God,  100 

Twice,  three  times,  with  man  ; 
To  bring  back  his  soul  from  the  pit, 
To  enlighten  him  with  the  light  of  life. 

V. 

**  Attend  then,  O  Job,  give  ear  unto  me  ; 

Keep  thou  silence,  and  I  will  speak.  105 

If  there  are  words  to  be  said,  answer  me ; 

Speak,  for  I  desire  to  justify  thee. 

If  not,  listen  unto  me  thou  ; 

Be  silent,  and  I  will  teach  thee  wisdom." 

Chap,  xxxiii.  29-33. 

loi.  Tzuice,  three  times,  —  a  climax  on  11.  65,  66,  with  per- 
haps an  allusion  to  Elihu's  intercession  as  messenger  and  in- 
terpreter, as  the  third  way  of  God's  working  with  man. 


XXIII 

ELIHU 

And  Elihu  answered  further,  and  said  : 

''  Hear,  O  wise  men,  my  words, 

And  men  of  knowledge,  give  ear  unto  me. 

For  the  ear  testeth  words, 

As  the  palate  tasteth  what  is  eaten. 

Let  us  choose  to  ourselves  judgment ; 

Let  us  know  between  us  what  is  good 


"  For  Job  saith,  '  I  am  righteous, 
And  God  hath  taken  away  my  right. 

Chap,  xxxiv.  1-5. 

Line  2.  This  section  is  addressed  to  the  friends,  with  the 
exception  of  a  short  diversion,  11.  31-34,  in  which  Job  is 
brought  into  the  audience  with  them. 

4,  5.  This  is  evidently  a  well-known  Wisdom  maxim ;  Job 
has  already  quoted  it,  section  viii.  23,  24,  as  containing  a  self- 
evident  truth. 

6,  7.  Elihu's  object  in  addressing  the  friends  is  to  find 
common  ground  with  them,  on  which  he  can  admonish  Job. 
He  evidently  regards  himself  as  the  champion  of  the  friends' 
cause. 

8-1 1.  These  words,  though  (with  the  exception  of  1.  9,  see 


XXIII.  ELIHU  309 

Against  my  right  I  am  made  to  lie  ;  10 

Incurable  is  my  wound,  yet  without  crime  of 

mine.' 
Who  is  a  mighty  man  like  Job  ?  — 
Who  drinketh  in  scorning  Hke  water, 
Who  consorteth  with  workers  of  iniquity, 
And  walketh  with  men  of  wickedness.  15 

For  he  hath  said  it  availeth  not  a  man, 
That  he  should  delight  himself  with  God. 

Therefore,  men  of  understanding,  hear  me  : 
Far  be  it  —  far  be  God  from  wickedness, 
And  the  Almighty  from  iniquity.  20 

For  the  work  of  man  will  He  requite  unto  him, 
And  make  every  man  find  according  to*  his  way. 
Yea,  verily,  God  will  not  do  wickedly. 

Chap,  xxxiv.  6-12. 

.section  xix.  2)  not  literally  quoted,  are  a  not  unfair  represen- 
tation of  the  general  tenor  of  Job's  complaint. 

13-17.  This  passage  gives  Elihu's  idea  of  the  logical  out- 
come of  Job's  position.  As  Eliphaz  has  already  complained 
(see  section  ix.  6,  7),  it  seems  to  break  down  the  barriers 
between  devoutness  and  scorn,  and  thus  to  make  Job  a  com- 
panion of  wicked  men.  Job  has  indeed  disclaimed  sympathy 
with  wickedness  (section  xiv.  30,  31),  and  this  same  sneer, 
"What  availeth?"  he  has  attributed  to  them  (section  xiv. 
26-29) ;  but  Elihu  ignores  this  fact,  because  the  whole  logic 
of  Job's  complaint  seems  to  him  to  belie  it. 

18  sqq.  In  this  paragraph  Elihu  occupies  the  friends' 
ground  of  indiscriminate  justification  of  God ;  and  for  this  he 
urges  only  the  reason  of  God's  power,  as  if  might  made  right 
This  of  course  is  just  the  idea  that  Job  has  contested. 


310  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXIII. 

Nor  will  the  Almighty  pervert  judgment. 
Who  laid  upon-  Him  the  charge  of  the  earth,  25 
And  who  disposed  the  whole  world  ? 
If  He  should  set  His  heart  upon  Himself, 
And  gather  unto  Himself  His  spirit  and  His 

breath, — 
All  flesh  would  gasp  out  its  life  together, 
And  man  would  return  to  dust.  30 

II. 

"  Oh,  if  thou  wilt  understand  then,  hear  this  ; 
Give  ear  to  the  voice  of  my  words. 
Shall  even  a  hater  of  right  have  dominion  ? 
And  wilt  thou  condemn  the  Just,  the  Mighty  ?  — 
Who  saith  to  a  king,  Thou  worthless !  35 

To  nobles.  Thou  wicked  one  ! 
Who  regardeth  not  the  face  of  princes, 
Nor  heedeth  the  rich  before  the  poor  ; 
For  the  work  of   His  hands  they  are,  all  of 
them. 

Chap,  xxxiv.  12-19. 

33,  34.  A  hater  of  right,  —  so  Job  appears  to  Elihu.  Job 
has  condemned  wrong  wherever  he  saw  it,  even  in  God  ;  but 
when  it  came  to  judging  God,  Elihu,  who  blindly  identified 
His  justice  and  His  might,  regards  Job's  words  as  condemning 
the  right  itself. 

35  sqq.  This  paragraph  merely  amplifies  the  argument 
outlined  in  11.  25-30.  The  statements  are  true  enough  ;  but 
they  ascribe  to  God  nothing  higher  than  arbitrary  power. 


XXIII.  ELIHU  311 

In  a  moment  they  die  ;  and  at  midnight,         40 

The  people  rise  in  tumult,  and  rush  to  and  fro  ; 

And  the  mighty  is  removed  —  yet  not  with 
hands. 

For  His  eyes  are  on  the  ways  of  each  man, 

And  all  his  goings  doth  He  see. 

There  is  no  darkness,  and  there  is  no  shadow 
of  death,  ^^ 

Where  workers  of  iniquity   may   hide   them- 
selves. 

For  He  needeth  not  to  set  thought  on  a  man 
the  second  time. 

That  he  should  come  to  God  in  judgment. 

He  breaketh  in  pieces  mighty  men,  inscruta- 
bly, 

And  setteth  up  others  in  their  stead.  so 

Therefore  He  taketh  note  of  their  works, 

And  He  overturn eth   in  the  night,  and  they 
are  crushed. 

He  beat  eth  them  as  He  beat  eth  the  wicked. 

In  the  place  where  all  may  see  ; 

Because  they  have  turned  back  from  Him,      55 

Chap,  xxxiv.  20-27. 

40-42.  Description  of  the  national  disturbance  occasioned 
by  the  death  of  a  prince. 

46.  Because  the  first  stroke  does  the  worlc  thoroughly ;  com- 
pare Milton,  Lycidas,  11.  130,  131 :  — 

"  But  that  two-handed  engine  at  the  door 
Stands  ready  to  smite  once  and  smite  no  more." 


312  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXIII. 

And  all  His  ways  they  have  heeded  not ; 

That  they  may  bring  before  Him  the  cry  of 
the  poor  ; 

And  the  cry  of  the  afflicted  He  will  hear. 
When  He  giveth  quietness,  who  shall  dis- 
turb ? 

When  He  hideth  His  face,  who  shall  spy  Him 

out  ?  60 

Be  it  with   nation,  or  with  man.  He  dealeth 

alike  ; 
That  the  godless  man  may  not  bear  rule, 
Nor  they  that  ensnare  the  people. 


III. 

"  For  oh,  had  he  but  said  unto  God, 

'  I  bear  it  —  I  will  not  offend  —  65 

Beyond  what  I  see,  teach  me  Thou,  — 

If  I  have  wrought  iniquity,  I  will  no  more  ! '  .  .  . 


Chap,  xxxiv.  27-32. 

57.  The  end  of  God's  way,  after  all,  is  righteousness  and 
mercy;  herein  the  parties  are  not  in  dispute,  though  Job  does 
not  work  out  the  problem  so  clearly,  nor  does  he  pass  so 
lightly  as  do  the  friends  over  such  disturbing  elements  as  are 
suggested  in  11.  62,  63. 

64.  Addressed  to  the  friends  again. 

65  sqq.  What  Elihu  deprecates  here  is  Job's  hardness  of 
tone  and  lack  of  humility  in  asserting  his  right.  He  ought  to 
have  been  more  ready  to  confess  ignorance  and  take  the  atti- 
tude of  a  sinner. 


XXIII.  EUHU  313 

Shall  He  requite  on  thine  own  terms,  and  say, 
*  Whether  thou  spurnest,  whether  thou  choosest, 
Be  it  thou,  and  not  I,  70 

And,  what  thou  knowest,  speak  *  ? 

Men  of  understanding  will  say  to  me. 
And  the  strong  wise  man,  hearkening  to  me ; 
'  It  is  not  in  wisdom  that  Job  hath  spoken, 
Nor  have  his  words  been  in  insight.  75 

Would  that  Job  might  be  tried  to  the  utmost. 
Because  of  his  answers  after  the  manner  of 

wicked  men  ; 
For  he  addeth  outrage  to  his  sin  ; 
He  clappeth  his  hands  among  us, 
And  multiplieth  words  against  God.'  "  so 

Chap,  xxxiv.  2>l-Jl' 

68-71.  This  passage  is  one  of  the  most  obscure  in  the 
poem  ;  the  above  seems  to  me  its  most  probable  meaning. 
I  take  it  as  Elihu's  way  of  turning  back  upon  himself  Job's 
general  arrogance  towarn  God,  which  is  to  the  friends  the 
most  offensive  feature  of  Job's  behavior. 

73.  The  wise  man,  —  it  is  in  the  interests  of  wisdom  and 
in  the  dialect  of  the  "  wise  men  "  that  Elihu  is  speaking. 

76  sqq.  Although  Elihu  is  ordinarily  very  courteous  in  ad- 
dressing Job,  yet  here  he  brings  forth  the  harshest  seeming 
judgment  that  has  been  pronounced.  We  will  remember, 
however,  that  he  regards  Job's  affliction  merely  as  a  trial 
wherein  the  latter  is  to  be  brought  to  hear  and  accept  an  in- 
terpreter, through  whom  he  is  to  be  restored  (section  xxii. 
84-89).  What  he  wishes  here,  therefore,  is  that  Job's  arro- 
gance, desperate  as  it  is,  may  have  a  desperate  enough  rem- 
edy to  cure  it.  It  is  not  Job's  death  that  he  is  wishing;  it  is 
the  heroic  treatment  which  will  effectually  humble  him. 


XXIV 

ELIHU 

Again  Elihu  answered,  and  said  : 

I- 

"  Countest  thou  this  for  judgment, 

When  thou  sayest,  '  My  justice  is  more  than 

God's'?  — 
For  thou  sayest,  What  advantage  hast  thou  ?  — 
*  What  am  I  profited  more  than  by  my  sin  ? '   s 
I  will  answer  thee  words, 
And  thy  companions  with  thee. 

Look  unto  the  heavens,  and  see, 
And  survey  the  skies  —  high  above  thee  they 

are,  — 

Chap.  xxxv.  1-5. 

Line  2.  For  Jiidpnenf,  —  that  is,  for  a  true  discrimination 
of  things,  a  right  estimate  of  where  justice  lies  between  him 
and  G(xl. 

3.  Thou  sayest,  —  that  is,  virtually.  From  the  friends' 
point  of  view  Job's  complaint  has  involved  such  assertion. 

7.  Elihu's  answer  in  this  section  is  directed  both  to  Job 
and  the  friends.  It  deals  more  with  general  truths,  which  it 
is  of  interest  for  all  to  know,  than  with  Job's  particular  case. 

8-15.  To  Elihu  and  the  friends  the  heavens  are  the  symbol 


XXIV.  ELIHU  315 

If  thou  sinnest,  what  workest  thou  against 
Him  ?  10 

And  if  thy  transgressions  be  multiplied,  what 
doest  thou  to  Him  ? 

If  thou  art  righteous,  what  givest  thou  Him  ? 

Or  what  receiveth  He  from  thy  hand  ? 

It  is  to  man  such  as  thou  that  thy  wickedness 
Cometh, 

And  to  the  son  of  man  thy  righteousness.        15 

II. 

*'  From  the  multitude  of  the  oppressed  men  cry 

out  ; 
They  groan  because  of  the  arm  of  the  mighty. 
Yet  no  one  saith,  *  Where  is  God  my  Maker, 
Who  giveth  songs  in  the  night  ;  — 

Chap.  xxxv.  6-10. 

of  God's  inaccessible  distance.  Elipliaz,  in  section  xv.  22-27, 
has  used  this  same  feeling  of  God's  remoteness  to  account 
for  Job's  imputed  sin ;  and  indeed  he  has  brought  forth  in 
outline,  and  without  application,  this  argument  of  Elihu's, 
section  xv.  2-5.  Elihu  seems  to  adduce  it  here  in  order  to 
rebuke  Job  for  trying  to  judge  God  on  human  standards  of 
justice  and  make  Him  like  man.  God  is  not  one  to  be  bene- 
fited or  defrauded  by  man's  little  doings;  hence  Job's  whole 
implied  demand  of  reciprocal  relations  between  God  and 
man  is  a  presumption. 

16,  17.  These  two  lines  bring  up,  in  very  brief  form,  Job's 
complaint  of  the  oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  wicked,  which 
Elihu  answers  in  his  own  way. 

18-25.  Elihu's  explanation  of  this  problem  is  similar  to  his 


3l6  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XXIV. 

Who  teacheth  us  more  than  the  beasts  of  the 

earth,  20 

And  more  than  the  fowls  of  heaven  maketh  us 

wise  ? ' 
Therefore  it  is  He  heareth  not, 
When  they  cry  because  of  the  pride  of  the 

wicked. 
For  surely,  vanity  will  not  God  hear, 
Nor  will  the  Almighty  regard  it.  25 

Yet  no  less  when  thou  sayest  thou  discernest 

Him  not, 
The  cause  is  before  Him  :  wait  thou  for  Him. 
And  now,  because  He  visiteth   not  in   His 

anger, 
And  doth  not  strictly  regard  transgression,  — 
Job  openeth  his  mouth  in  vanity,  30 

And  multiplieth  words  without  knowledge." 

Chap.  xxxv.  11-16. 

explanation  of  Job's  affliction.  When  the  poor  are  op- 
pressed, it  is  their  discipline,  to  draw  them  to  God  ;  if  they 
fail  to  learn  the  lesson,  their  cry  for  help  is  vain. 

20  sq.  This  question  on  the  part  of  the  poor  implies  doubt 
of  any  Power  to  give  them  more  than  a  brutish  life,  and  is  an 
excuse  for  cherishing  a  lower  existence  than  they  are  made 
for. 

2S-31.  The  upshot  of  Elihu's  criticism  in  this  section 
seems  to  be  that  Job  is  wrong  in  bringing  God  to  the  bar  of 
justice  and  right,  because  it  leaves  God's  failure  to  punish 
the  wicked  unexplained.  Elihu  is  trying  to  justify  God  in  all 
His  ways,  and  to  make  His  dark  dealings  clear  too;  and  be- 
cause Job  honestly  calls  them  insoluble,  Job's  words  are 
vanity. 


XXV 

ELIHU 

And  Elihu  continued,  and  said  : 

"  Wait  for  me  a  little,  and  I  will  show  thee  ; 

For  there  are  yet  words  for  God. 

I  will  fetch  my  knowledge  from  afar. 

And  to  my  Maker  will  I  ascribe  justice ;  s 

For  of  a  surety  my  words  are  no  lie  ;  — 

It  is  the  Perfect  in  knowledge  that  is  with  thee. 


"  Behold,  God  is  mighty,  yet  despiseth  not,  — 
Is.  mighty  in  strength  of  understanding. 

Chap,  xxxvi.  1-5. 

In  the  present  section  Elihu  elaborates  into  a  general  doc- 
trine that  idea  of  submission  which  he  has  inculcated  upon 
Job. 

Line  5.  Elihu  is  much  concerned  to  "justify  the  ways  of 
God  to  man  ;  "  this  in  special  reference  to  Job,  whose  affir- 
mations of  innocence  it  was,  with  the  sequent  implication  of 
God's  injustice  to  him,  that  kindled  his  wrath  ;  section  xxi.  ^ 

7.  T/ie  Perfect  in  Knowledge,  —  by  this  term  Elihu  identi- 
fies his  thoughts  with  the  mind  of  God ;  he  is  as  confident  of 
his  doctrine  as  if  it  were  a  veritable  oracle.  A  delicate  touch  of 
the  author,  —  to  make  Elihu's  conceit  prepare  his  humiliation. 


3l8        ^  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XXV. 

He  will  not  let  the  wicked  live  ;  lo 

And  justice  will  He  give  to  the  afflicted. 

He  withdraweth  not  His  eyes  from  the  right- 
eous ; 

But  with  kings  upon  the  throne 

He  maketh  them  sit  for  ever,  and  they  are 
exalted. 

And  if,  bound  in  fetters,  is 

They  be  taken  in  toils  of  affliction, 

And  He  showeth  them  their  deed. 

And  their  transgressions,  that  they  have  been 
overweening, 

And  openeth  their  ear  to  discipline. 

And  speaketh,  that  they  turn  back  from 
iniquity,  —  20 

Chap,  xxxvi.  6-10. 

10,  II.  These  two  lines  comprise  Elihu's  doctrine,  which  is 
the  general  Wisdom  doctrine,  of  God's  final  purpose.  As  it 
contemplates  no  adjustment  of  things  beyond  this  life,  it  is 
merely  the  doctrine  that  Job  has  called  in  doubt,  nor  does  it 
make  any  advance  on  what  the  friends  have  maintained. 

1 5.  But  here  begins  Elihu's  own  resolution  of  the  doctrine. 
The  statement  of  the  problem  he  draws  from  Job's  case, 
which  embodies  the  difficulty  in  point.  Affliction,  he  says,  is 
intended  by  God  to  produce  confession  of  sin  and  a  docile, 
obedient  spirit,  responsive  to  discipline.  This  too  is  quite 
consistent  with  the  friends'  system  ;  for,  as  in  their  view  man 
is  of  necessity  corrupt,  he  can  never  fail  to  have  sins  to  confess. 
And  in  general  it  contains  a  noble  and  helpful  truth.  But  it 
falls  short  of  the  case  of  Job,  who  by  the  hypothesis  is  pure 
and  upright,  and  who  finds,  both  in  his  affliction  and  in  the 
world,  evils  out  of  all  proportion  to  any  reasonable  purpose 


XXV.  ELIHU  319 

If  then  they  hearken,  and  be  obedient, 

They  shall  fill  out  their  days  in  good, 

And  their  years  in  pleasantness. 

And  if  they  hearken  not,  they  shall  perish  by 
the  dart, 

And  they  shall  expire  without  knowledge.       25 

Also  the  godless  of  heart,  that  cherish  wrath. 

That  cry  not  out  when  He  bindeth  them,  — 

Their  soul  dieth  in  youth, 

And  their  life  is  with  the  obscene. 

He  delivereth  the  afflicted  by  his  affliction,  30 

And  openeth,  by  suffering,  their  ear  ; 

And  thee  also  He  lureth  from  the  jaws  of  dis- 
tress, 

Unto  a  broad  place,  where  there  is  no  strait- 
ness ; 

And  the  furnishing  of  thy  table  shall  be  full  of 
fatness. 

Chap,  xxxvi.  11-16. 

of  justice  or  discipline.  It  still  fails  to  answer  the  question, 
What  of  the  man  who,  perfect  in  integrity  and  honest  with 
himself,  will  not  confess  to  a  sin  that  he  does  not  feel  ? 

21-25.  The  end  that  Elihu  contemplates  is  either  restora- 
tion or  utter  ruin  in  death ;  his  thoughts  are  bounded  by  this 
life,  and  leave  no  room  for  a  solution  beyond. 

24.  The  dart,  —  Elihu's  chosen  symbol  of  God's  vengeance 
and  retribution  ;  see  section  xxii.  75. 

26-29.  The  same  doctrine  applied  to  the  afflicted  wicked ; 
a  repetition,  essentially,  of  what  Elihu  has  propounded,  sec- 
tion xxiv.  16-25. 

32.  And  thee  also,  — the  thought  gracefully  turned  from  the 


320  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XXV. 

But  hast  thou  filled  the  judgment  of  the 
wicked,  ss 

Judgment  and  justice  shall  lay  hold  of  thee. 

For  beware  lest  anger  stir  thee  up  against  the 
stroke, 

And  abundance  of  ransom  shall  not  deliver 
thee. 

Shall  then  thy  cry  set  thee  forth  out  of  distress. 

And  all  the  resources  of  wealth  t  40 

Sigh  not  thou  for  the  night. 

When  the  nations  go  up  from  their  place. 

Keep  thyself,  lest  thou  turn  unto  iniquity  ; 

For  thereto  thou  inclinest  more  than  to  afflic- 
tion. 

II. 
''Behold,  God  worketh  loftily  in  His  power;  45 

Chap  xxxvi.  17-22. 

general  to  Job,  by  an  idiom  similar  to  section  viii.  1 1 5,  where 
see  note. 

37.  It  is  Job's  "  anger  "  (so  they  interpret  his  clear-eyed 
indignation)  which  is  the  greatest  difficulty  both  to  Elihu  and 
to  the  friends ;  compare  section  iii.  46. 

41.  This  seems  to  refer  to  Job's  wish  for  death,  with  its 
rest  and  its  dark  oblivion. 

44.  Elihu  strikes  Job's  balance  as  toward  iniquity.  He 
does  not  accuse  him  directly  of  sin,  as  do  the  friends ;  but  in 
thus  judging  Job's  inclination  of  spirit  he  is  at  one  with  them  : 
he  is  as  blind  as  they  are  to  the  real  determination  toward  God 
which  underlies  all  Job's  earnest  remonstrances  and  all  his 
achievements  of  faith. 

45.  At  this  point,  it  seems  most  reasonable  to  conclude, 


XXV.  ELIHU  321 

Who  is  a  teacher  like  unto  Him  ? 
Who  hath  laid  upon  Him  His  way  ? 
And  who  saith,  Thou  hast  done  iniquity  ? 
Take  heed  that  thou  magnify  His  work, 
Which  men  celebrate  in  song.  50 

All  mankind  gaze  wonderingly  thereon  ; 
Mortal  man  beholdeth  it  from  afar. 

Behold,  God  is  exalted,  and  we  know  Him 
not ; 
The  number  of  His  years  is  unsearchable. 
For  He  draweth  up  the  water-drops,  55 

Chap,  xxxvi.  22-27. 

Elihu's  attention  is  turned  to  the  glory  of  God,  perhaps  by 
the  impressiveness  of  a  distant  storm,  which  he  employs  as 
furnishing  material  for  a  didactic  discourse. 

47-50.  The  same  view  of  God  that  Elihu  has  taken  before; 
see  section  xxiii.  25  sq.  A  true  enough  view  in  itself  ;  but  it 
betrays,  whether  intentionally  or  not,  the  radical  discordance 
between  the  friends  and  Job.  The  truth  of  God's  resistless 
power  over  the  world  Job  himself,  far  from  disputing,  affirms 
with  all  emphasis,  as  a  point  whereon  he  accepts  their  doc- 
trine; see  section  viii.  15-56.  But  that,  because  God  is 
mighty,  all  His  dealings,  whatever  their  mysterious  incon- 
sistency, must  be  called  justice, — this,  Job  is  too  honest  to 
avow,  and  the  disposition  to  avow  it  blindly  and  indiscrimi- 
nately, as  Elihu  is  now  doing,  Job  has  censured  in  the  friends, 
as  the  disposition  to  be  special  pleaders  for  God  ;  see  section 
viii.  63-76.  So  this  didactic  discourse  of  Elihu's,  true  and 
eloquent  though  it  is,  really  opens  the  whole  issue  between 
the  friends  and  Job,  and  prepares  the  two  parties  to  appear 
before  the  God  of  the  whirlwind  in  their  contrasted  spiritual 
attitudes. 

55.  With  this  line  Elihu  begins  to  recognize  the  storm  as 


322  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XXV. 

And  they  distil  rain  in  place  of  the  mist  ; 

Which  then  the  skies  pour  down, 

And  drop  upon  men  abundantly. 

Yea,  is  there  that  understandeth  the  spread- 

ings  of  the  cloud. 
The  crashings  of  His  pavilion  ?  '^ 

Behold,  He  spreadeth  thereon  His  light, 
And  the  roots  of  the  sea  He  covereth  up  ; 
For  by  them  He  judgeth  the  nations  ; 
He  giveth  food  in  abundance. 
Over  both  hands  He  wrappeth  lightning,         es 
And  giveth  it  command  where  to  strike. 
His  thunder-cry  maketh  report  thereof, 
The  herd  also,  of  the  flame  that  ascendeth. 
Yea,  at  this  my  heart  trembleth. 
And  shuddereth  from  its  place.  70 

Hear  ye,  oh,  hear  the  roar  of  His  voice, 
And  the  rumbling  that  goeth  forth  from  His 

mouth. 

Chap,  xxxvi.  27  —  xxxvii.  2. 

the  occasion  of  his  discourse ;  and  while  the  storm  is  yet  dis- 
tant he  can,  in  a  leisurely  manner,  draw  other  objects  into  his 
disquisition,  such  as  the  sea,  1.  62,  snow  and  ice,  11.  80,  88. 

63.  God  judges  the  nations,  Elihu  says,  by  clouds  and  rain, 
which  indicate  His  will  by  giving  or  withholding  their  sup- 
ply. 

6S.  This  seems  to  refer  to  the  perturbation  of  beasts  in  a 
thunder-storm,  or  at  the  approach  of  a  hurricane. 

69-72.  These  lines  seem  to  indicate  definitely  the  approach 
of  the  storm,  at  which  he  is  disturbed,  but  not  yet  enough  to 
intermit  his  discourse. 


XXV.  ELIHU  323 

Under  all  the  heavens  He  sendeth  it  forth, 
And  His  lightning  to  the  edges  of  the  earth. 
After  it  resoundeth  a  voice,  —  75 

He  thundereth  with  the  voice  of  His  majesty, 
Nor  doth   He   stay  them  when   His  voice    is 

heard. 
God  thundereth  with  His  voice  marvelously, 
Doing  great  things,  and  we  comprehend  Him 

not. 
For  to  the   snow   He   saith,  Be  thou  upon 

the  earth,  so 

And    the   rain -flood,   yea,   the   flood   of   His 

mighty  rains. 
On  the  hand  of  every  man  He  setteth  a  seal, 
That  all  mortals  whom  He  hath   made   may 

know. 
And  the  beast  goeth  into  his  covert. 
And  in  his  lair  abideth.  so 

Out  of  His  chamber  cometh  the  hurricane. 

Chap,  xxxvii.  3-9. 

'J'].  Nor  doth  He  stay  them,  —  the  reference  of  them  is  ob- 
scure ;  perhaps  it  means  the  lightnings. 

80  sqq.  In  this  paragraph  the  signs  of  the  coming  whirl- 
wind, or  hurricane,  become  more  definite ;  which,  so  long  as 
he  can  look  upon  them  calmly,  Elihu  associates  didactically 
with  snow  and  ice. 

82.  God  setteth  a  seal  on  men's  hands  ;  that  is,  in  the  winter 
and  in  the  rainy  season  causes  them  to  suspend  work  and 
activity,  going  into  their  houses  as  the  beasts  go  into  their 
coverts. 


324  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXV. 

And  cold  from  the  cloud-dispersers. 
From  the  breath  of  God  ice  is  given  ; 
And  the  broadness  of  the  waters  is  straitened. 
Also  He  loadeth  the  cloud  with  moisture;       90 
He  spreadeth  the  lightning-cloud  abroad ; 
And  at  His  guidance  it  turneth  itself  about, 
To  do  all  that  He  commandeth  it, 
On  the  face  of  the  terrestrial  world  ; 
Whether  for  a  scourge,  or  for  the  land,  —       95 
If  for  mercy  He  causeth  it  to  come. 

III. 

"  Give  ear  unto  this,  O  Job  ; 

Stand,  and   ponder  the   marvelous    things    of 

God. 
Knowest  thou  how  God  layeth  command  upon 

them, 
And    maketh    shine    forth    the  light  of  His 

cloud  .^  100 

Knowest  thou  the  poisings  of  the  thick  cloud, 
The  wonders  of  the  Perfect  in  knowledge }  — 

Chap,  xxxvii.  9-16. 

87.  The  cloud-dispersers,  —  the  clear  cold  winds  that  drive 
away  the  clouds  and  leave  the  heavens  serene. 

97  sqq.  Elihu's  didactic  spirit  rises  with  the  oncoming  of 
the  storm,  until  it  reaches  its  highest  pitch  of  patronizing  wis- 
dom, even  to  the  extent  of  naming  again  (1.  102)  the  Perfect 
in  knowledge,  with  whom,  as  he  has  previously  identified  his 
thought  (I.  7),  he  now  identifies  the  portents  and  marvels  of 
the  storm. 


XXV.  ELIIIU  325 

Thou  whose  garments  are  hot, 

Because  from  the  south  the  earth  lieth  sultry 

still,  — 
Canst  thou  spread  out  with  Him  the  skies,     105 
Firm,  as  a  molten  mirror  ? 
...  Oh  teach  us  what  we  may  say  to  Him  ! 
We  cannot  order  it  —  it  groweth  so  dark  .  .  . 
Hath  one  told  Him  that  I  am  speaking  ?  .  .  . 
Or   hath   a   man    said  ...    for  he   shall    be 

swallowed  up  !  ^^^ 

And  now  they  no  longer  see  the  light,  — 
That  splendor  in  the  skies. 
For  a  wind  hath  passed,  and  scattered  them. 
.  .  .  From  the  north  a  golden  glory  cometh  !  .  .  . 

Chap,  xxxvii.  17-22. 

103,  104.  One  sign  of  the  whirlwind,  which  is  preceded  by 
sultry  heat  and  stillness. 

'  106.  Another  sign,  —  the  peculiar  metallic  appearance  of 
the  sky. 

107.  At  this  point,  as  it  would  seem,  the  storm  bursts  upon 
them,  and  with  such  exceptional  features  that  Elihu  must 
regard  it  as  betokening  the  immediate  presence  of  Jehovah. 
For  this  he  is  not  prepared,  nor  has  any  of  his  discourse 
manifested  either  desire  for  or  conception  of  such  a  thing. 
His  succeeding  words,  accordingly,  are  confused  and  incoher- 
ent, indicating  a  vague  terror  of  impending  destruction. 

III.  With  the  passing  of  the  mysterious  light  which  accom- 
panied the  storm,  Elihu's  spirit  rebounds,  and  in  comparative 
calm  he  is  resuming  his  disquisition. 

114.  From  the  7torth,  —  d.\\e\v  quarter  of  the  heavens  (com- 
pare 1.  104),  and  with  manifestations  wholly  portentous.— 


326  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXV. 

Oh,  with  God  is  terrible  majesty  !  ns 

The  Almighty  —  we  have  not  found  Him  out ; 
Vast  in  power,  and  in  judgment. 
And  in  abundance  of  righteousness  ;  — 
He  will  not  afflict ; 

Therefore  do  men  fear  Him  ;  120 

He  regardeth  not  any  wise  in  their  own  con- 
ceit." 

Chap,  xxxvii.  22-24. 

A  golden  glory,  —  literally,  gold ;  but  in  this  connection  it 
can  hardly  refer  to  anything  but  the  exceptionally  splendid 
light.  ,/ 

116.  At  which  Elihu  begins  to  retract  his  pretensions,  and 
in  a  kind  of  wheedling  terror  to  bring  God's  mercies  to 
mind,  as  if  in  a  confused  attempt  thereby  to  turn  away  the 
wrath  that  seems  so  imminent.  Quite  in  contrast  to  the  self- 
respecting  boldness  of  Job  when  he  took  his  life  in  his  hand 
(section  viii.  So),  in  order  to  speak  out  to  God's  face  what 
was  in  him. 

121.  Wise  in  their  owji  conceit,  —  literally,  wise  of  heart. 
Thus  he  characterizes  himself,  making  thereby  abject  confes- 
sion of  the  futile  pretensions  of  his  wisdom. 

This  is  the  last  of  Elihu.  He  is  self-judged.  Though  he 
has  said  many  noble  things,  and  represented  the  highest  and 
the  truest  that  the  friends  could  bring  forth  from  the  treas- 
ures of  their  Wisdom,  yet,  because  of  its  unspiritual  and 
essentially  selfish  basis  in  their  character,  it  does  not  enable 
them  to  stand  before  the  searching  light  of  God's  immediate 
presence.  A  God  who  is  undesired  is  unbearable  ;  it  is  only 
aspiring  love  and  purity  of  heart  that  can  endure  His  face. 


XXVI 

THE   LORD 

And  the  Lord  answered  Job  out  of  the  whirl- 
wind, and  said  : 

"  Who  is  this,  darkening  counsel 

With  words,  —  but  without  knowledge  ? 

Gird  up  thy  loins  now,  like  a  strong  man, 
And  I  will  ask  thee  ;  and  inform  Me  thou.        ^ 

Chap,  xxxviii,  1-3. 

The  first  words  from  the  whirlwind  dismiss  Elihu  abruptly 
with  a  judgment  just  adapted  to  his  pretensions.  Full  of 
words  he  confessedly  has  been  (section  xxii.  29) ;  but  to  set 
up  as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Perfect  in  knowledge  (section 
XXV.  7)  is  a  presumption  too  great  to  pass  unrebuked. 
"  Without  knowledge,"  —  thus  on  Elihu  the  Divine  verdict  is 
passed. 

Not  so  with  Job.  He  is  left  rather  to  judge  himself.  From 
his  impregnable  citadel  of  integrity  he  has  looked  into  the 
world  of  God's  mysterious  dealings,  and  while  blinking  none 
of  its  difficulties  his  faith  has  imaged  a  God  who  is  his  Friend 
and  the  Friend  of  righteousness.  One  difficulty  remained, 
however,  which  caused  him  dismay  (section  xvi.  24-33) :  the 
sight  of  God's  changeless,  inexorable,  inscrutable  work  in  the 
world,  where  wicked  and  righteous  live  together  in  the  same 
apparently  undiscriminating  government.  To  this  problem 
we  may  regard  the  Lord's  discourse  as  addressed  ;  not  by 


328  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XXVI. 

I. 

"  Where  wast  thou,  when  I  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  earth  ? 
Declare,  if  by  knowledge  thou  understandest  : 
Who  set  its  measurements,  so  thou  knowest  ; 
Or  who  stretched  the  line  over  it  ? 
On  what  were  its  piers  deep-laid,  lo 

Or  who  placed  its  corner-stone,  — 
When  the  morning-stars  sang  together, 
And  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy  ? 

Who  shut  up  the  sea  with  doors. 
When     it     brake     forth  —  issued    from    the 
womb,  —  15 

When  I  made  cloud  its  garment, 

Chap,  xxxviii.  4-9. 

way  of  a  narrow  answer  why,  but  rather,  by  passing  in  re- 
view before  Job  the  greatness  and  variety  of  created  things, 
it  raises  him  to  a  point  where  he  has  a  broader  horizon,  and 
can  better  judge  of  his  position  in  the  sum  of  things.  His 
vision  is  right  (compare  section  xxx.  6),  therefore  he  shall 
have  more  to  see ;  "  to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given." 

Lines  6  sqq.  This  first  part  of  the  address  deals  with  the 
transcendent  things :  earth  and  sea,  light  and  darkness,  — 
things  too  great  and  too  ancient  to  reveal  their  origin  to  man. 
The  earth  is  represented  under  the  figure  of  a  vast  buildmg. 

13.  The  sons  of  God  are  mentioned  in  the  Prologue  (11.  22, 
89)  as  God's  ministering  spirits,  reporting  on  themselves  and 
the  creation. 

14  sqq.  The  sea,  under  the  figure  of  a  vast  Being,  born  of 
Chaos,  full  of  proud  ambition,  but  submissively  in  the  power 
of  God. 


XXVI.  TFIE   LORD  329 

And  thick  gloom  its  swaddling-band,  — 
When  I  established  over  it  my  decree, 
And  set  bars  and  doors, 
And  said,    '  Thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  and  no 

farther,  20 

And  here  the  pride  of  thy  waves  shall  cease '  ? 

Hast  thou,  since  thy  days  began,  commanded 

the  morning, 
And  taught  the  day-spring  his  place, 
That  he  should  lay  hold  of  the  skirts  of  the 

earth, 
And  the  wicked  be  shaken  out  of  it  ?  25 

That  it  should  be  changed  as  clay  under  the 

seal, 
And  all  things  stand  forth  as  in  festal  attire  ? 
That  their  light  should  be  withholden  from  the 

wicked. 
And  the  uplifted  arm  be  broken  ? 

Hast  thou  made  thy  way  to  the  sources  of 

the  sea,  30 

And  walked  in  the  recesses  of  the  deep  ? 

Chap,  xxxviii.  9-16. 

23.  The  Day-spring,  or  Dawn,  personified  as  one  who 
"  seizes  the  coverlet  under  which  the  earth  has  slept  at  its 
four  ends  and  shakes  the  evil-doers  out  of  it  like  flies  ;  upon 
which  form  and  color  return  to  the  earth,  as  clay  (a  Baby- 
lonian image)  receives  a  definite  form  from  the  seal,  and  as 
the  sad-colored  night-wrapper  is  exchanged  for  the  bright, 
embroidered  holiday-robe."  —  Cheyne. 

28.   Their  light,  —  which  is  darkness,  their  deeds  being  evil. 


330  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXVI. 

Have  the  gates  of  death  been  revealed  to  thee  ? 
And  the  gates  of  the  shadow  of  death  —  hast 

thou  seen  them  ? 
Hast  thou  comprehended  the  breadths  of  the 

earth  ?. 
Tell,  if  thou  knowest  it  all,  —  35 

Where  is  the  way  to  where  light  dwelleth. 
And  darkness,  where  is  its  place, — 
That  thou  shouldst  trace  it  to  its  boundary, 
And  shouldst  be  acquainted  with  the  paths  to 

its  house. 
Thou  know  !  —  then  thou  wast  already  born,  40 
And  the  number  of  thy  days  must  be  great ! 

II. 

"  Hast  thou  visited  the  treasuries  of  the  snow  } 
And  the  treasuries  of  the  hail,  hast  thou  seen 

them,  - — 
Which  I  have  reserved  for  the  time  of  distress, 
For  the  day  of  onset  an^  war  }  45 

Where  is  the  way  to  where  the  light  is  dis- 
persed, 
When   the   East    spreadeth   abroad   over    the 
earth } 

Chap,  xxxviii.  17-24. 

45.  Compare  Joshua   x.    ii.     The    hail  is  represented  as 
stored  up  in  treasuries  for  direct  use  in  human  affairs. 
47.  Compare  Tennyson :  — 

"  The  wither'd  moon 
Smote  by  the  fresh  beam  of  the  springing  east." 


XXVI.  THE  LORD  33 1 

Who  hath  riven  a  channel  for  the  rain-flood, 
And  a   way  for  the    lightning   of    the    thun- 
der ? 
To  bring  rain  on  a  land  where  no  man  is,         50 
On  the  desert,  where  no  son  of  Adam  dwell- 

eth; 
To  satisfy  waste  and  wilderness. 
And  to  cause  the  springing  grass  to  grow  ? 

Is  there  indeed  a  father  to  the  rain  ? 
Or  who  hath  begotten  the  drops  of  dew  ?         55 
Out  of  whose  womb  came  the  ice, 
And  the  hoar-frost  of  heaven,  who  brought  it 

forth  ? 
As  in  stone  the  waters  hide  themselves. 
And  the  face  of  the  deep  congealeth. 

Canst  thou  bind  the  fetters  of  the  Pleiades,  eo 
Or  loose  the  cords  of  Orion  ? 
Canst  thou  bring  forth  the  Signs  in  their  sea- 
son. 
And  canst  thou  guide  the  Bear  with  her  sons  ? 
Knowest  thou  the  laws  of  the  heavens, 

Chap,  xxxvni.  25-33. 

50,  51.  Yet  quite  apart  from  human  requirements,  too, 
God's  natural  powers  are  working  in  silence,  doing  just  as 
great  and  beneficent  things  where  there  is  no  eye  to  see. 

60-63.  ^^  these  lines  there  may  be  allusions  to  mythologi- 
cal ideas  now  unknown  ;  nor  is  the  meaning  of  all  the  names 
certain.  The  name  of  Orion,  the  "  fool-hardy  "  giant,  seems 
to  have  come  from  some  such  myth.  The  Signs  {Mazzaroth) 
are  supposably  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac. 


332  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XXVI. 

Or  wilt  thou  dispose  their  empire  over  the 
earth  ?  es 

Wilt  thou  raise  thy  voice  unto  the  cloud, 
That  a  flood  of  waters  may  cover  thee  ? 
Wilt  thou  send  forth  lightnings,  that  they  may 

And  may  say  unto  thee,  Here  we  are  ? 

Who  hath  put  wisdom  into  their  reins  ?  to 

Or  who  hath  given  understanding  to  the  me- 
teor ? 

Who  numbereth  the  clouds  in  wisdom  ? 

And  the  bottles  of  heaven,  who  poureth  them 
out,  — 

When  dust  is  molten  into  a  mass, 

And  clods  cleave  fast  together  ?  75 

III. 

"  Wilt  thou  hunt  prey  for  the  lioness, 
And  still  the  craving  of  the  young  lions,  — 

Chap,  xxxviii.  33-39. 

65.  The  always  prevalent  idea  taken  for  granted,  that  the 
heavens  have  influence  on  the  seasons  and  affairs  of  earth. 

70,  71.  This  passage,  which  is  very  obscure  in  the  original, 
is  here  given  in  what  from  derivation  and  context  seems  the 
most  probable  meaning. 

76  sqq.  The  succeeding  examples  illustrate  the  variety  of 
the  providential  care  and  wisdom  manifest  in  the  animal  cre- 
ation, and  by  contrast  man''s  utter  lack  of  wisdom  either  to 
control  or  to  interpret.  The  lions  and  ravens  are  fed,  yet  by 
means  wholly  inscrutable  to  man. 


XXVI.  THE  LORD  333 

When  they  lie  crouching  in  their  lairs, 

When  they  lurk  in  the  covert  for  ambush  ? 
Who  provideth  his  prey  for  the  raven,  so 

When  his  young  cry  out  unto  God, 

And  wander  here  and  there,  without  meat  ? 
Knowest.thou  the  bearing-time  of  the  wild 
goats  of  the  rock  ? 

Wilt  thou  direct  the  travail  of  the  hinds  ? 

Is  it  thou  who  numberest  the  months  they  ful- 
fill, 85 

And   hast  thou   known  the  time  for  them  to 
calve  ? 

They  bow  themselves,  let  their  young  cleave 
the  womb, 

And  thus  they  cast  away  their  labor-pangs. 

Their  young  ones  fatten,  grow  up  in  the  field. 

Go  forth,  and  return  not  again.  90 

Who  hath  sent  forth  the  wild-ass  free. 

And   the   bands   of  the   fleet   one   who   hath 
loosed  1 

Whose  house  I  have  made  the  wilderness, 

And  the  salt-waste  his  lodging-place. 

Chap,  xxxviir.  40  — xxxix.  6. 

83  sqq.  The  wild  goats  live  a  complete  life,  from  birth  to 
death,  in  a  Care  just  adapted  to  them,  yet  far  apart  from  the 
knowledge  of  man. 

91  sqq.  In  the  wild-ass  is  a  freedom  that  scorns  all  control ; 
yet  there  is  some  mysterious  Wisdom  that  has  "  sent  him 
forth  free." 


334  THE  BOOK  OF  yOB  XXVI. 

He  laugheth  at  the  tumult  of  the  city,  95 

And  the  clamors  of  the  driver  will  he  not  hear. 
The  choice  spots  of  the  mountain  are  his  pas- 
ture ; 
And  after  every  green  thing  he  searcheth. 

Will  the  wild-ox  be  content  to  serve  thee, 
Or  will  he  pass  the  night  at  thy  crib  ?  100 

Wilt  thou  bind  the  wild-ox  with  his  cord  in  the 

furrow. 
Or  will  he  harrow  the  valleys  after  thee  ? 
Wilt  thou  trust  him  because  his  strength  is 

great, 
And  wilt  thou  commit  unto  him  thy  toil  ? 
Wilt  thou  rely  on  him  to  bring  home  thy  seed, 
And  to  gather  thy  threshing-floor  ?  loe 

The  wing  of  the  ostrich  beateth  joyously, 
But  is  it  a  kindly  pinion  and  plume  ? 
For  she  leaveth  her  eggs  to  the  earth. 
And  warmeth  them  upon  the  dust,  no 

And  forgetteth  that  a  foot  may  crush  them. 

Chap,  xxxix.  7-15. 

99  sqq.  In  the  wild-ox,  likewise,  we  see  provided  in  nature 
a  strength  whose  purpose  no  domestication  can  utilize  or 
human  insight  comprehend. 

107  sqq.  In  the  ostrich  is  seen  a  variety  of  contradictory 
traits,  which  no  man  is  wise  enough  to  reconcile  and  explain. 
How  interpret  the  Wisdom  that  would  see  fit  to  create  a  bird 
at  once  wonderfully  endowed  with  swiftness,  to  escape  her 
enemies,  yet  so  foolish  as  to  leave  her  young  at  the  mercy  of 
every  hostile  foot  ? 


XXVI.  THE  LORD  335 

And  that  the  wild  beast  of  the  field  may  tram- 
ple them. 

She  dealeth  hardly  with  her  young,  as  though 
they  were  not  hers. 

In  vain  her  labor,  being  without  fear ; 

For  God  hath  denied  her  wisdom,  115 

Nor  hath  she  portion  in  understanding. 

Yet  what  time  she  lasheth  her  pinions  on  high. 

She  scorneth  the  horse  and  his  rider. 
Givest  thou  might  unto  the  horse, 

Or  clothest  thou  his  neck  with  the  quivering 
mane  .?  120 

Dost  thou  make  him  spring  as  a  locust } 

The  glory  of  his  snorting  is  terrible. 

He   paweth    in    the   valley,    and   rejoiceth   in 
strength  ; 

He  goeth  to  meet  the  weapons  of  war. 

He  mocketh  at  fear,  and  is  not  dismayed  ;      125 

And  he  turneth  not  back  for  the  sword. 

Upon  him  rattleth  the  quiver,  — 

Flaming  of  spear  and  javelin. 

With  rage  and  fury  he  devoureth  the  earth, 

Chap,  xxxix.  15-24. 

119  sqq.  The  war-horse,  which  seems  to  be  created  for 
battle,  and  to  delight  in  the  turmoil  from  which  most  animals 
would  flee,  was  an  object  of  peculiar  wonder  to  the  Hebrew 
mind,  perhaps  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  horses  in  Pales- 
tine. There  is  no  other  description  of  animals  in  this  section 
in  which  the  imaginative  spirit  expresses  itself  in  such  bold 
and  loftv  terms. 


336  THE   BOOK  OF  JOB  XXVI. 

And  he  standeth  not  still,  —  for  it  is  the  voice 

of  the  trumpet.  130 

At  every  trumpet-blast  he  saith,  Aha ! 
And  from  afar  he  scenteth  battle, 
Thunder  of  captains,  and  shouting. 

Is  it  by  thy  wisdom  that  the  hawk  soareth 

aloft, 
And  spreadeth  her  wings  toward  the  south  }  135 
Or  is  it  at  thy  word  that  the  eagle  mounteth 

upward. 
And  that  he  buildeth  his  nest  on  high  t 
He  dwelleth  on  the  rock,  and  maketh  his  home 

there. 
On  the  tooth  of  the  rock,  and  the  strong  hold. 
From  thence  he  spyeth  out  his  prey  ;  uo 

His  eyes  discern  it  from  afar. 
And  his  young  ones  suck  up  blood  ; 
And  where  the  slain  are,  there  is  he." 

Chap,  xxxix.  24-30. 

134  sqq.  From  one  source  of  wisdom,  which  cannot  be 
man's,  the  hawk  receives  the  instinct  that  directs  her  south- 
ward, and  the  eagle  is  guided  to  his  rocky  home,  whence  he 
can  spy  out  prey. 

139.  The  tooth  of  the  rock,  —  the  Hebrew  metaphor  for  the 
sharp-pointed  rocky  summit. 


XXVI.  THE   LORD  337 

IV. 

So  the  Lord  answered  Job,  and  said  : 

*'  Will   the    reprover    contend    with    the    Al- 
mighty ?  145 
He  that  censureth  God,  let  him  answer  it." 

Chap.  xl.  i,  2. 

144.  This  should  not  be  printed  as  the  beginning  of  a  new 
discourse,  as  is  generally  done  ;  it  simply  summarizes  and  ap- 
plies the  foregoing  section. 

145.  Job  has  desired  to  "bring  his  cause  "  before  God  (see 
section  xvi.  4-13)  ;  this  indeed  has  been  his  most  constant 
longing,  and  for  this  we  left  him  all  ready,  when  he  ceased 
speaking  (section  xx.  186-192).  Has  he  still  the  same  desire, 
after  all  this  view  of  the  various  Wisdom  inlaid  in  nature .'' 
Will  he  still  "contend"  (the  legal  term,  see  section  vi.  4, 
note)  as  a  reprover  and  critic,  after  he  has  seen  so  much  that 
is  beyond  and  above  him  "i  The  following  words  of  Robert 
Buchanan  interpret  well  the  significance  of  the  Lord's  ques- 
tion here,  as  related  to  the  review  of  creation  that  has  just 
been  given  :  "  Because  there  is  sin  and  misery  in  the  world, 
because  hearts  ache  and  bodies  die,  shall  we  turn  upon  this 
sublimely  exhaustless  B^ing,  and  demand  explanation  }  Is  it 
not  something  to  know  how  He  delights  in  making,  in  end- 
less creating,  and  that  One  who  thus  delights  cannot  be  cruel  ? 
The  explanation  will  come." 

146.  He  that  is  great  enough  to  "  censure,"  to  pass  judg- 
ment on  God,  is  great  enough  to  answer  his  own  questions ; 
if  to  him  God's  way  is  not  self-justifying,  no  answer  from  out- 
side himself  would  justify  it. 


XXVII 

JOB 

And  Job  answered  the  Lord,  and  said : 

"Behold,  I  am  too  small :  what  shall  I  answer 

Thee  ? 
I  lay  my  hand  upon  my  mouth. 
Once  have  I  spoken,  and  I  will  not  answer ; 
And  twice,  but  I  will  not  add  thereto."  s 

Chap.  xl.  3-5. 

Line  2.  The  speech  from  the  whirlwind  has  wrought  its 
purpose  thus  far :  it  has  made  Job  see  God's  world  in  some- 
thing of  its  true  perspective,  and  that  he  is  not  the  centre  of 
the  system,  but  only  a  very  small  unit  in  the  infinite  sum  of 
things.  He  does  not  presume  to  present  his  cause  ;  how 
could  he,  so  small,  give  it  its  true  relation  to  the  vast  universe 
of  God's  working? 

4.  It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  Job  does  not  retract 
what  he  has  said  ;  he  simply  ventures,  with  humility  and  awe, 
to  let  it  remain  before  God  just  as  it  has  been  spoken. 


XXVIII 

THE   LORD 

And  the  Lord  answered  Job  out  of  the  whirl- 
wind, and  said  : 

**  Gird  up  thy  loins  now,  like  a  strong  man  ; 
I  will  ask  thee ;  and  inform  Me  thou. 


"  Wilt  thou  even  disannul  my  right  ? 
Wilt  thou  condemn  me,  that  thou  mayest  be 
justified  ?  6 

Chap.  xl.  6-8. 

Lines  4,  5.  Job  has  come  to  see  that  he  has  no  wisdom 
wherewith  to  enter  the  lists  against  the  infinite  Wisdom  of 
the  world,  and  pass  judgment  on  what  is  so  complex.  The 
Lord  now  takes  him  one  step  further  back,  and  asks  him 
why  he  should  separate  God's  cause  from  his  own,  as  if  they 
must  be  antagonists.  Is  there  not  room,  in  such  a  universe, 
for  both  God's  right  and  Job's  }  Nay,  and  such  belligerent 
assertion  of  a  mortal's  *' rights,"  —  which  assertion  we  will 
remember  Job  has  not  yet  withdrawn,  —  is  t/iai  the  attitude 
for  utter  weakness  to  assume  before  infinite  Power  ?  Ques- 
tioning like  this,  and  from  such  a  source,  fulfills  Elihu's  wish 
(section  xxiii.  y6)  as  no  words  of  the  friends   could  do  ;  it 


340  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXVIII. 

Doth  an  arm  like  God's  belong  to  thee  ? 
And  wilt  thou  thunder  with  a  voice  like  His  ? 
Put  on  now  thy  grandeur  and  majesty, 
And  array  thyself  with  splendor  and  glory  ; 
Pour  forth  the  overflowings  of  thy  wrath,         lo 
And  behold  all  that  is  lofty,  —  and  abase  it  ; 
Behold  all  that  is  lofty,  —  bring  it  low, 
And  tread  down  the  wicked  where  they  stand. 
Hide  them  in  the  dust  together  ; 
Bind  up  their  faces  in  the  hidden  place  ;  is 

And  then  will  I  with  praise  confess  to  thee 
That  thine  own  right  hand  can  save  thee. 


"  Behold  now  Behemoth,  which  I  made  along 
with  thee  : 

Chap.  xl.  9-15. 

"  tries  Job  to  the  utmost,"  revealing  and  refining  the  real  gold 
of  his  character  ;  compare  section  xvi.  19.  This  is  doubtless 
its  purpose,  rather  than  to  prove  Job  in  the  wrong. 

6.  The  previous  discourse  of  the  Lord's  has  treated  of  the 
various  aspects  of  Divine  wisdom  ;  this  has  to  do  more  with 
portrayals  of  God's  power.  With  the  power  of  God,  as  with 
the  wisdom,  Job  must  measure  himself. 

17.  As  Job's  assumed  wisdom  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  re- 
solve its  own  problems  (section  xxvi.  146),  so  Job's  assumed 
power,  implied  in  this  attitude  of  condemning  God  for  the 
sake  of  his  own  rights,  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  save  him. 
Why  should  he  be  selfish  any  farther  than  he  is  really  suffi- 
cient to  himself  ? 

i8.  "  The  word  behemoth  may  be  a  Heb. //«r.  of  intensity, 
signifying  the  beast  or  ox,  par  excellence  ;  but  probably  it  is  an 


XXVIII.  THE  LORD  34I 

Grass,  like  the  ox,  doth  he  eat. 

Behold  now  his  strength  in  his  loins,  20 

And  his  power  in  the  muscles  of  his  belly. 

He  moveth  his  tail  like  a  cedar  ; 

The  sinews  of  his  thigh  are  knit  together ; 

His  bones  are  tubes  of  brass  ; 

His  ribs  like  a  bar  of  iron.  25 

He  — chief  of  the  ways  of  God  ;  — 

Only  He  that  made  him  can  make  His  sword 

approach  him. 
Yet  the  mountains  furnish  him  food  ; 
And  all  the  beasts  of  the  field  may  sport  there. 
Under  the  lotus-trees  he  lieth,  30 

In  the  covert  of  reed  and  fen. 
The  lotus-trees  weave  him  a  shadow  ; 
And  the  willows  of  the  brook  encompass  him. 
Behold,  the  river  rageth,  and  he  trembleth  not  ; 
He  is  steadfast  though  a  Jordan  rush  against 

his  mouth.  35 

Chap.  xl.  15-23. 

Egyptian  name  Hebraized.  It  has  been  supposed  to  be  the 
Egyptian  p-ehe-motit,  i.  e.,  the  wate7'  or  river  ox.  At  all  events 
the  animal  referred  to  appears  to  be  the  hippopotamus,  or 
river-horse,  of  the  Greeks."  —  Davidson. 

26-29.  A  beast  of  immense  power,  yet  inoffensive  ;  unsub- 
duable  by  any  but  God,  yet  living  in  harmony  with  other 
beasts. 

34-37.  Nor  is  he  lacking  in  courage :  he  resists  fearlessly 
the  raging  of  the  river  ;  yet  he  lets  himself  bs  captured  and 
subdued  by  man.  Such  is  one  manifestation  of  God's  power 
in  nature. 


342  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXVIII. 

Yet  before  his  very  eyes  men  capture  him, 
And  pierce  through  his  nose  with  snares. 

III. 

"  Wilt  thou  draw  out  Leviathan  with  a  hook  t 
Or  with  a  cord  wilt  thou  press  down  his  tongue  } 
Wilt  thou  put  a  rope  into  his  nose,  40 

Or  with  a  spike  bore  through  his  jaw  } 
Will  he  multiply  supplications  unto  thee. 
Or  will  he  speak  unto  thee  soft  things  } 
Will  he  make  a  covenant  with  thee. 
That  thou  mayest  take  him  as  a  servant  for 
ever }  45 

Wilt  thou  sport  with  him  as  with  a  sparrow, 
And  bind  him  for  thy  maidens  } 
Will  the  fisher-bands  traffic  over  him, 
And  retail  him  among  the  Canaanites  1 
Wilt  thou  fill  his  skin  with  barbed  irons,  so 

And  with  fish-spears  his  head  ? 
Lay  but  thine  hand  upon  him,  — 
And  of  battle  think  thereafter  no  more  ! 

Chap.  xl.  24  —  xli.  8. 

38.  Leviathan, — probably  the  crocodile,  the  animal  that 
answers  most  nearly  to  the  present  description,  though  some 
of  the  details  are  idealized. 

49.  The  Canaanites,  or  Phoenicians,  were  the  typical  mer- 
chants of  antiquity  ;  so  that  the  words  Canaanite  and  mer- 
chant became  almost  synonymous;  see  Zechariah  xiv.  21; 
Proverbs  xxxi.  24. 

53.  That  is,  one  who  attempts  to  vanquish  him  once  will 
never  live  to  join  battle  with  him  again. 


XXVIII.  THE  LORD  343 

Behold,  one's  hope  is  beUed  ; 
Nay,  at  very  sight  of  him  one  is  cast  down ;    55 
None  so  desperate  as  to  stir  him  up, — 
And  who  is  he  then  that  will  take  his  stand 

before  Me  ? 
Who   hath   first  put  Me   in   his    debt,  that    I 

should  requite  ? 
Nay,  under  all  the  heaven  —  whosoever  he  is, 

he  is  mine. 
I  will  not  pass  over  in  silence  his  limbs,       eo 
Nor  the  fame  of  his  strength,  nor  the  beauty 

of  his  build. 
Who  will  uncover  the  front  of  his  array  ? 

Chap.  xli.  9-13. 

54.  That  is,  one's  hope  to  capture  or  subdue  him. 

56.  Here,  then,  is  a  beast  no  greater  in  power,  perhaps, 
than  behemoth,  yet  wholly  contrasted  in  traits,  being  utterly 
unsubduable  ;  this  beast  also,  as  well  as  behemoth,  being  the 
handiwork  of  God,  made  along  with  man. 

57-59.  The  lesson  of  these  portrayals  drawn.  Koth  beasts 
are  vastly  more  powerful  than  man,  the  one  mild,  the  other 
fierce,  yet  both  owing  all  they  are  to  God.  Shall  man  alone, 
who  belongs  to  God  in  the  same  sum  of  things,  bring  to  his 
Maker  an  unpaid  demand  ?  In  all  these  things,  has  God  left 
man's  life  unprovided  for?  We  are  reminded  of  the  lesson 
drawn  in  Isaiah  xl.  26-28. 

60  sqq.  To  me  there  is  no  other  passage  in  the  Book  of 
Job  so  doubtful  as  is  the  remainder  of  this  section.  All  the 
rest  of  the  book  has  the  unity  of  tissue  belonging  to  one  lit- 
erary idea  ;  and  at  this  point  the  argument  naturally  culmi- 
nates. Not  that  11.  60-105  are  discordant  with  the  previous  ; 
they  simply  seem  like  a  later  addition  put  on  to  satisfy  some 


344  ^-^^  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXVIII. 

Into  that  twofold  bridle  who  will  enter  ? 

The  gates  of  his  face  who  shall  open  ? 

The  circuits  of  his  teeth  are  terror.  65 

A  pride  are  the  rows  of  his  shields, 

A  seal  each  one,  shut  close  and  bound. 

One  cometh  so  near  to  the  other 

That  no  air  can  come  between  them  ; 

Each  to  his  fellow,  they  are  close  joined  ;        to 

They  cleave  so  together  that  they  cannot  be 

sundered. 
His  neesings  flash  forth  light, 
And  his  eyes  are  like  the  eyelids  of  the  morn- 
ing. 
From  his  mouth  go  forth  burning  torches,  — 
Sparks  of  fire  issue  forth,  75 

Out  of  his  nostrils  goeth  smoke. 
Like  a  pot  kindled,  and  like  a  rush-fire. 
His  breath  setteth  coals  aflame, 

Chap.  xli.  13-21. 

writer's  love  of  description,  but  not  adding  to  the  argument 
either  in  idea  or  in  emotional  effect. 

63.  His  rows  of  teeth,  "  the  term  '  bridle '  referring  particu- 
larly perhaps  to  the  corners  of  his  jaws." 

66.  The  rows  of  his  shields  are  the  crocodile's  armor  of 
scales. 

72.  His  neesings,  — the  breath  from  his  nostrils,  which  in 
the  sun  is  said  to  flash  light. 

TT,.  "  In  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphs  the  eyes  of  the  crocodile 
are  a  symbol  of  the  dawn,"  —  Davidson.  This  same  expres- 
sion, "  eyelids  of  the  morning,"  is  used  in  section  ii.  20,  to 
signify  the  dawn. 


XXVIII.  THE  LORD  345 

And  a  tongue  of  flame  issueth  from  his  mouth. 

On  his  neck  lodgeth  Might,  so 

And  before  him  Horror  leapeth. 

The  flanks  of  his  flesh  cleave  together, 

Molten  upon  him,  immovable. 

His  heart  is  molten  firm,  like  a  stone  ;  — 

Yea,  molten  firm,  like  a  nether  millstone.         ss 

When  he  riseth  up,  mighty  ones  are  afraid  ; 

They  lose  their  senses  for  terror. 

Though  one  reach  him  with  the  sword,  it  hold- 

eth  not  ; 
Nor  the  spear,  nor  the  dart,  nor  the  coat  of 

mail. 
He  accounteth  iron  as  straw,  90 

And  brass  as  rotten  wood. 
The  son  of  the  bow  cannot  make  him  flee ; 
To  chaff  are  sling-stones  turned  before  him ; 
As  chaff  too  he  regardeth  a  club. 
And  he  laugheth  at  the  shaking  of  a  spear.     95 
His  under  parts  are  sharpened  shards ; 
Chap.  xli.  21-30. 

82.  "  The  parts  beneath  his  neck  and  belly,  which  in  most 
animals  are  soft  and  pendulous ;  in  him  they  are  firm  and 
hard."  —  Davidson. 

92.   The  son  of  the  bo%v,  —  the  Hebrew  metaphor  for  arro7o. 

96,  97.  "The  scales  of  his  belly,  though  smoother  than 
those  on  the  back,  still  are  sharp,  particularly  those  under 
the  tail,  and  leave  an  impression  on  the  mire  where  he  has 
lain  as  if  a  sharp  threshing-sledge  with  teeth  had  stood  on  it 
or  gone  over  it  (Isaiah  xli.  15)."  —  Il>- 


346  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXVIII. 

He  spreadeth  out  a  threshing-wain  over  the 

mire. 
He  maketh  the  deep  to  boil  like  a  cauldron  ; 
The  sea  he  maketh  like  a  pot  of  ointment. 
After  him  shineth  a  pathway  ;  loo 

One  would  think  the  deep   turned  to  hoary 

hair. 
There  is  none  on  earth  his  master,  — 
He  —  created  without  fear. 
On  all  that  is  high  he  looketh,  — 
He  —  king  over  all  the  sons  of  pride.'*  105 

Chap.  xli.  30-34. 

105.  In  section  xix.  62,  the  "  proud  beast  of  prey  "  is  liter- 
ally "  the  sons  of  pride ;  "  and  here  doubtless  the  expression 
refers  to  the  proud  beasts. 


XXIX 

JOB 

And  Job  answered  the  Lord,  and  said  : 

"I  know  that  Thou  canst  do  everything  ; 
Nor  is  withholden  from  Thee  any  design. 

*  Who    is    this    that    hideth    counsel   without 

knowledge  ? '  — 
Therefore  have  I  uttered,  and  understood  not,  5 
Things  too  wonderful  for  me,  and  I  knew  not. 

*  Hear  now,'  Thou  sayest,  *  and  I  will  speak  ; 
I  will  ask  thee  ;  and  inform  Me  thou  ; '  — 

Chap.  xlii.  1-4. 

Lines  2,  3,  Job's  eyes  are  open  at  last  to  perceive  the  uni- 
versality both  of  God's  power  and  wisdom  ;  an  all-pervading 
Care  in  which  he  is  content  to  take  his  place,  hushing  all 
complaints  and  trusting  where  he  cannot  see.  This  is  the 
grand  outcome  of  Job's  experience ;  an  outcome  not  merely 
in  a  completed  argument,  but  in  a  chastened,  obedient,  en- 
lightened character. 

4.  Quotation  of  the  question  regarding  Elihu,  section  xxvi. 
2,  3 ;  which  Job  humbly  takes  up  and  applies  to  himself,  thus 
virtually  assuming  the  burden  not  only  of  what  he  has  rashly 
uttered,  but  of  the  short-sighted  speculations  of  his  friends 
also. 

7,  8.  The  Lord's  words  to  Job ;  sections  xxvi.  5  ;  xxviii.  3. 


348  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXIX. 

I  had  heard  of  Thee  by  hearing  of  the  ear, 
But  now  mine  eye  seeth  Thee  ;  lo 

Wherefore  I  loathe  me,  and  repent, 
In  dust  and  ashes." 

Chap.  xlii.  5, 6. 

9-12.  The  past  hard  experience  has  brought  Job  immeas- 
urably nearer  to  God.  Between  this  and  his  former  spiritual 
state  there  is  all  the  difference  between  sight  and  hearsay. 
God  is  no  more  a  conventional  God,  the  God  of  a  philosophy, 
but  the  real  and  actual  Presence  after  which  Job  has  longed ; 
and  the  attitude  that  befits  such  communion  is  not  the  self- 
complacent  attitude  of  one  who  has  triumphed,  but  the  lowly 
self-abasement  of  repentant,  trustful  love. 

Job's  repentance  is  not  to  be  referred  to  some  definite  error 
or  event  in  which  he  has  been  proved  wrong ;  it  is  due  to  that 
feeling  of  earthly  impurity  which  cannot  but  rise  when  the 
heart  is  laid  bare  before  infinite  Holiness,  —  like  the  feeling 
which  prompted  the  poet's  prayer  at  the  end  of  his  work :  — 

*'  Forgive  what  seem'd  my  sin  in  me ; 
What  seem'd  my  worth  since  I  began." 


XXX 

EPILOGUE 
I. 

And  so  it  was,  after  the  Lord  had  spoken 
these  words  to  Job,  that  the  Lord  said  to 
Eliphaz  the  Temanite,  *'  My  wrath  is  kindled 
against  thee,  and  against  thy  two  friends  ; 
for  ye  have  not  spoken  concerning  Me  that    5 

Chap.  xlii.  7. 

The  Epilogue,  to  which  many  have  objected,  is  not  with- 
out its  justification  in  logical  necessity.  It  does  not  indeed 
portray  Job's  real  reward,  which  was  inward  and  spiritual; 
but  it  does  reveal  to  his  unspiritual  friends  the  one  vindica- 
tion which  they  have  shown  themselves  able  to  appreciate,  — 
the  vindication  of  prosperity  in  this  life.  If  they  could  so 
confidently  promise  restoration  as  the  reward  of  his  coming 
to  God  by  their  prescribed  way  of  repentance  and  confession 
of  sin,  surely  no  smaller  or  less  palpable  blessing  should 
follow  his  brave  maintenance  of  his  righteous  ways  until  God 
Himself  pronounces  his  course  right. 

Line  5.  Thai  tvhich  is  right ^  —  the  whole  trend  of  their 
words  toward  God  (for  it  is  literally,  "  Ye  have  not  spoken  to 
Me")  has  been  wrong  ;  for  it  has  had  its  spring  in  a  selfish 
desire  to  secure  God's  favor  by  indiscriminate  praise  (see  sec- 
tion viii.  63-76),  and  that  selfish  desire  has  led  them  to  deny 
Job's  evident  integrity,  to  manufacture  for  him  a  sin  of  which 
he  was  not  guilty,  and  to  deny  the  obvious  prosperity  of  the 


350  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXX. 

which  is  right,  as  hath  my  servant  Job. 
And  now  take  unto  you  seven  bullocks  and 
seven  rams,  and  go  to  my  servant  Job,  and 
offer  a  burnt-offering  for  yourselves,  and  my 
servant  Job  will  pray  for  you ;  for  his  face  lo 
will  I  accept,  —  lest  I  deal  with  you  after  your 
folly.  For  ye  have  not  spoken  concerning 
me  that  which  is  right,  as  my  servant  Job 
hath." 

And  Eliphaz  the  Temanite,  and  Bildad  the  is 
Shuhite,  and  Zophar  the  Naamathite  went 
and  did  as  the  Lord  spake  unto  them  ;  and 
the  Lord  accepted  the  face  of  Job. 

And  the  Lord  turned  the  captivity  of  Job 
when  he  prayed  for  his  friends.     And  the  20 
Lord  added  to  all  that  had  been  Job's  two- 
fold. 

Chap.  xlii.  7-10. 

wicked  in  the  world.  On  the  other  hand,  Job's  words,  bold 
and  outspoken  though  they  were,  have  been  honest,  speaking 
the  truth  as  he  saw  truth,  and  charged  through  and  through 
with  loyalty  to  what  is  just  and  loving  and  Godlike. 

10.  Job's  intercession  for  the  friends  is  a  remarkable  fulfill- 
ment of  what  they  promised  him  he  might  do  if  he  would 
"  reconcile  himself  "  with  God  ;  see  section  xv.  52,  58,  59. 

15,  16.  The  three  friends  are  mentioned;  why  not  Elihu 
also,  who  championed  their  cause  ?  Because  he  has  already 
judged  himself.  There  would  be  the  same  propriety  in  mak- 
ing him  appear  again  that  there  would  be  in  making  a  char- 
acter in  a  drama  who  has  just  died  reappear  and  receive  the 
plaudits  of  the  audience. 

19.  This  is  merely  the  fulfillment  of  the  friends'  numerous 


XXX.  EPILOGUE  351 

II. 

And  there  came  to  him  all  his  brethren, 
and  all  his  sisters,  and  all  who  had  known 
him  before ;  and  they  ate  bread  with  him  in  25 
his  house,  and  mourned  with  him,  and  com- 
forted him  for  all  the  evil  that  the  Lord  had 
brought  upon  him.  And  they  gave  him, 
each  man  a  kesita,  and  each  man  a  ring  of 
gold.  ^ 

And  the  Lord  blessed  the  latter  end  of 
Job  more  than  his  beginning  ;  for  he  had 
fourteen  thousand  sheep,  and  six  thousand 
camels,  and  a  thousand  yoke  of  oxen,  and  a 
thousand  she-asses.  And  he  had  seven  sons  35 
and  three  daughters.  And  he  called  the 
name  of  the  first  daughter  Jemima,  and  the 
name  of  the  second  Kezia,  and  the  name  of 
the  third  Keren-happuch ;  and  in  all  the  land 
there  were  not  found  women  so  fair  as  the  40 
daughters  of  Job;  and  their  father  gave 
them  inheritance  among  their  brethren. 

Chap.  xlii.  11-15- 
promises;  see  sections  iii.  7S-97 ;  v.  8-14;   vii.  25-38  ;  xv. 
AO-W  ;  xxii.  90-94.  ,  .  , 

Za  kesita,- ^x.  uncoined  piece  of  money,  which  was 
reckoned  by  weight;  Genesis  xxxiii.  19;  Joshua  xx,v.  32. 
The  mention  of  the  /^...V^,  which  evidently  belonged  to  pa- 
triarchal times,  is  perhaps  one  mark  of  the  author  s  .mitat.ou 
of  patriarchal  customs. 


352  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  XXX. 

III. 

And  Job  lived  after  this  a  hundred  and 
forty   years  ;  and  he  saw  his   sons  and  his 
sons'  sons,  four  generations.     And  Job  died,  45 
old  and  full  of  days. 

Chap.  xlii.  16,  17. 

43.  Job's  long  life,  conformed  to  the  generous  patriarchal 
standard,  is  one  of  the  illustrations  of  that  slight  framework 
of  legend  on  which  our  author  presumably  built;  a  frame- 
work that  it  would  be  a  task  both  baffling  and  thankless  to 
reconstruct,  because  the  whole  soul  of  the  poem  is  preemi- 
nently an  outgrowth  of  the  Wisdom  thinking.  Its  interest  for 
us  lies  in  its  invention  rather  than  in  its  legendary  basis. 

45.  Compare  Eliphaz's  promise,  section  iii.  96,  97. 


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